Tag: vkontakte

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...

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...

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...

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.

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 to lawsuits. How times change and it is now...

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...

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.

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...

Russian social network vKontakte has launched a new app for streaming music, capitalising on its growing number of music licensing deals. The company has courted controversy – and lawsuits – within the music industry...

Russian social network vKontakte’s latest day in court came with two lawsuits from local labels over unlicensed uploads of their music by users. The Russian appeals court ruled that VK must pay 750k rubles (around $11.6k)...

The sight of VKontakte boss Boris Dobrodeyev describing the Russian music industry as “under-monetised” will make plenty of rightsholders choke on their cornflakes, given that they see the social network as one of the...

VKontakte, Russia’s biggest domestic social network with 300m registered users, has officially been cleared of copyright infringement following a long-running case brought against it by Universal Music Russia and Warner...