Guess the melody – Newspaper Kommersant No. 191 (7392) dated 10/14/2022

Music streaming has long been out of the sight of the authorities, but the situation may change, helped by vigilant citizens. Just recently, the author of the Mobile-Review Telegram channel complained to State Duma deputy Anton Gorelkin about one of the major platforms that it allegedly posted songs by the Ukrainian punk band Malyarevsky about the murder of Russian soldiers.

The deputy, without thinking twice, demanded an explanation from the platform and, judging by the message in the Telegram channel, turned to Roskomnadzor, after which he announced that “the offending track had disappeared”, noting, however, that “users continue to find Russophobic songs and podcasts on domestic streaming services.” My colleagues and I listened to the repertoire of key Russian platforms, there are tracks in Ukrainian (we could not evaluate their content) – in fact, this is not prohibited by any regulations, even those related to military operations.

But taking into account the complaints that have appeared, the question arises of who and how should check the content and be responsible for the legitimacy of its placement. In theory, this is the task of digital music distributors who upload the track to the platform. And it’s not only (and not even so much) propaganda. The compositions, for example, are checked for copyright infringement (under a different name, for example, Madonna’s popular song may be distributed), the age limit (tracks containing obscenities are marked) and are checked against the federal list of extremist materials maintained by the Ministry of Justice. The composition is included in the black list by a court decision after the appeal of the prosecutor’s office. Now it contains more than 5 thousand items (including books, music, videos), including, for example, tracks of rappers Grotto and rockers Metal Corrosion.

The music platform can remove the composition only by a court decision or at the request of the copyright holder. But given the unexpected attention to music streaming from the authorities (for example, according to the new criteria of the Ministry of Digital Development, they can be accredited as IT companies and qualify for benefits, and their employees for a deferment from mobilization), the order may change.

So, Anton Gorelkin has already put forward the idea of ​​“expanding the law on self-control of social networks to music services and podcast platforms.” According to this law, from February 1, social networks must themselves monitor and block illegal information, including calls for riots, extremism, terrorism, etc. This may mean that the time for publishing songs will increase significantly (now distributors download 60-80 thousand songs a week). tracks), due to which the number of new products, which Russian listeners do not receive, will decrease.