Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues to have knock-on effects for Russian companies of all kinds who do business with western companies.
Tag: VKontakte
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Downtown Music and Kobalt suspend operations in Russia
Yesterday’s announcements from Sony Music, WMG and FUGA were swiftly followed by the two companies revealing their plans.
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Webinar: Key Alternative Platforms for Global Music Marketing
Date: 21 July 2021 Time: 5 pm BST Platforms like Instagram, Facebook and TikTok are used in virtually every artist marketing campaign – but to unlock international or niche audiences, you’ll need […]
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Music marketing focus: Russia and Eastern Europe
The final day of Music Ally’s Sandbox Summit Global online conference last week started with a session exploring trends in Russia and Eastern Europe.
Vladimir Yurchenko, international marketing manager at Warner Music Group, talked about Russia, noting that it is one of the five fastest growing music markets in the world.
“Right now, we are the sixteenth market overall,” he said, referring to the IFPI’s global rankings. “But seeing how fast we are growing it could be a top 10 market in four or even three years. And this growth happened because of streaming, first and foremost.”
Yurchenko said that 78% of the 146.7 million Russian population have mobile internet access, and while fewer than 10% have premium music streaming subscriptions, that is growing fast. “The potential for growth is really huge.”
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vKontakte says it has 1.2m paying subscribers in Russia
It’s not so long since Russian social network vKontakte was one of the primary villains for music rightsholders, on account of its platform being a thriving repository of user-uploaded, unlicensed music. But after signing deals and going legit a year ago, the complaints have died down. Now we have a milestone to track VK’s progress in building a legal music business.
The company says it now has 1.5 million subscribers to its music-streaming service, although that’s 1.2 million people paying for it, and a further 300,000 currently on its free trial, according to Billboard. That puts it some distance ahead of Apple Music (600,000 subscribers in Russia, reportedly) as well as Yandex Music (250,000) and Google Play Music (100,000).
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Russian streaming services add restrictions for free users
The first industry push in Russia was to clamp down on pirate and unlicensed music services, persuading some of the highest-profile examples to sign licensing deals.
Now we appear to be entering a second phase: to shift those services’ emphasis a little more towards paid subscriptions rather than free streaming.
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vKontakte gets indies licensed through Merlin deal
Russian social network vKontakte has continued its move towards licensed-music legitimacy, thanks to a new deal covering Merlin’s roster of independent labels.
The agreement, brokered through United Media Agency, covers the audio AND video content from Merlin’s members, and is with vKontakte’s parent company Mail.ru – meaning the catalogue will also be made available through social networks Odnoklassniki and MyWorld.
It’s vKontakte that’s the most interesting angle here though. “To develop the licensed online music market within Russia it is vital that VKontakte, Odnoklassniki and MyWorld can meet consumer demand and supply the most comprehensive repertoire of catalogue,” said VK CEO Boris Dobrodeev in a statement.
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Russia may crack down on social-network piracy
It’s probably a good time for Russian social network vKontakte to have sorted its licensing deals with music labels. Why? The Russian government is reportedly planning a new crackdown on piracy through social networks.
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VKontakte’s music service and the $0.40-a-year Russian consumer
VKontakte, the biggest social network in Russia, has had a mixed relationship with the music industry, with it being attacked in the past as a major piracy portal and subjected […]
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vKontakte doesn’t want to be called a ‘piracy’ site
Fresh from signing a licensing deal with Universal Music to complete its set of the major labels, Russian social network vKontakte is hitting back at any suggestions the catalogue of user-uploaded music on its service make it a piracy site.
“The term “piracy” is not applicable to User Generated Content (UGC) services. Our position, which we have successfully defended in legal disputes, is that we do not distribute pirate content,” claimed CEO Boris Dobrodeyev in an interview with TorrentFreak, although the journalist went on to use the ‘P’ word again, sparking this response.
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vKontakte music sub to cost ‘the same as a cup of coffee’
If you needed any more proof that Russian social network vKontakte is on a path from friend to foe for the music industry, witness the appearance of all three labels on a panel event at its VK Fest conference.
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Report claims UMG closing in on vKontakte licensing deal
Russian social network vKontakte has been a controversial entity for the music industry thanks to songs being shared on its platform. Its launch of a licensed (by Sony Music and Warner Music) streaming app in May was a big step forward, then the reignition of its copyright dispute with Universal Music a fortnight later a significant step back.