Russian cinema and series will be left without Western music

Import substitution doesn’t work so far

For Russian cinema and serial producers, a new life begins, in which there will be no imported music. Today it became known that major streaming services are removing all foreign music products from projects that are in production.

The reason for this decision was the refusal of foreign copyright holders to sell their content for use in Russia. Of course, any ban can be circumvented by ignoring it, but this would be a violation of the rules of the global game. This means that the film or series cannot be presented for international distribution even in friendly territories.

Previously, Russian companies, when buying music produced abroad, paid a part of its cost, limiting its use in Russia and the CIS, or paid the full price for the opportunity to present a film or series around the world. However, after the start of the CBO, large Western copyright holders closed the Russian market for themselves, and now such transactions are impossible.

“The main problem is not with the use of popular songs in movies and TV series, but with libraries, that is, ready-made tracks, clearly structured by theme and mood. This is the same design music that is very necessary in movies and TV shows,” Zvonko Digital Executive Director Dmitry Konnov commented on the situation. – Of course, there is an opportunity to somehow get out. There are already Russian companies that produce design music on an industrial scale, seemingly even involving artificial intelligence in this process. But in order to make your products usable, you need to create an appropriate service, and this is also a cost. That is, there are library substitutes, but working with them is not as easy as before. If we draw analogies, then you used to go to a restaurant to eat your favorite dish, but now the restaurant has closed and you need to cook your favorite dish yourself.

A new stage in the era of copyright in Russia will certainly limit directors and producers in choosing the music they like. It will be very bad for those who are sure that their film needs a very specific song by the Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Rammstein and other Western artists. It is better to part with such plans, unless, of course, the producers want to show a film or series outside of Russia.