Short playlist – Newspaper Kommersant No. 183 (7384) dated 10/04/2022

In addition to Sony Music Group, which left Russia, other labels are beginning to withdraw their catalogs from Russian music services. Among them, for example, the British label WARP – the compositions of its artists disappeared from Yandex.Music. Participants in the music distribution market confirm the trend, noting that most labels are taking tracks behind the scenes. Reducing the catalog, experts believe, will inevitably lead to a reduction in user activity, and then to the loss of some subscribers, as well as the development of piracy.

The compositions of foreign labels are disappearing from the catalogs of Russian music streaming services, in particular, the tracks of the British independent label WARP have disappeared from Yandex.Music, users of the service report on social networks. The Telegram channel “Native Sound” was the first to pay attention to this. Artists signed by the label include Aphex Twin, Autechre, Boards Of Canada, Flying Lotus, Mount Kimbie, Stereolab, Yves Tumor and more. Artists whose songs and albums are now also unavailable on the service include Cigarettes After Sex, Warhaus, Fontaines DC and others. WARP did not respond to Kommersant’s request. Yandex.Music, as well as other Russian services, Sound and VK Music, declined to comment.

According to Kommersant’s interlocutor in one of the Russian music streaming sites, WARP is a small label whose artists have a small audience in Russia: “Now renegotiating or renewing contracts with foreign copyright holders requires much more time than usual.”

Until September, removals of old songs from the catalogs of Russian services were isolated: only individual artists reported this, for example, the British rock band Pink Floyd and one of its leaders, David Gilmour. In the fall, Sony Music Group announced the removal of old catalogs from Russian platforms (see Kommersant on September 9). The company announced that it was finally leaving Russia, although in the spring, after the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, it only talked about the suspension of work, the catalogs were in effect. The Sony Music catalogs included The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Beyonce, Ed Sheeran and other artists.

Similarly, another major international label, Warner Music, could leave the Russian market, which could cause Russian streaming to lose another piece of foreign music (see Kommersant on September 20).

According to the former CEO and head of work with artists and repertoire of the digital distributor ONErpm Eastern Europe, Nadezhda Boychevsky, not only Sony Music and WARP, but also other labels are currently removing catalogs from Russian services, but not everyone does this publicly. In her opinion, there is a possibility that in the future most of the foreign music will become unavailable for listening: “This will provoke a surge in piracy.”

More and more foreign labels will withdraw old catalogs from Russian music services, Denis Kuskov, CEO of Telecom Daily, predicts. He recalls that a similar situation occurs in the video content market. “Kommersant” reported on August 18 that against the backdrop of sanctions, old films and series began to disappear from the libraries of Russian online cinemas, for example, the series “Friends”, the films “1 + 1”, “Interstellar”, “The Lord of the Rings”, “Mask”.

After leaving the market of foreign services, including Spotify and Apple Music, the Russian “Yandex.Music”, “Sound” and “VK Music” received an influx of users, notes Denis Kuskov. As Kommersant wrote on August 29, most of the subscribers of the departed foreign music services switched to Russian alternative platforms, and only 14%, according to Kantar, switched to pirates. Also on October 1, Roskomnadzor told RBC that it blocked access to the website of the foreign music service SoundCloud at the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office for spreading fakes about a Russian special operation in Ukraine. The mobile app is still available.

The reduction of the catalog as a result of the final withdrawal of foreign labels from the Russian market will inevitably lead to a reduction in user activity and the time they spend in the service, and then, possibly, to the refusal of some users from subscribing to services, says Denis Kuskov. According to him, in the future, most of the foreign music may disappear from Russian legal services.

Valeria Lebedeva, Yulia Tishina