Songs of foreign artists who left Russia appeared in Yandex Music

The Yandex Music streaming service began to recommend new songs to users by artists collaborating with labels that, after the start of a special military operation in Ukraine, announced the cessation of business in Russia. In particular, new releases by the bands Rammstein and Maneskin appeared in the service library, drew attention RBC.

Recommendations are distributed through the “My Wave” option, with the help of which music is selected for each specific user, taking into account his personal preferences.

Albums by Western artists are offered for listening without indicating the music label with which the artists collaborate. Thus, songs from the albums Zeit by the rock band Rammstein (released April 29, 2022) and Rush were uploaded to the service! winners of Eurovision 2021 Maneskin (January 20, 2023). These albums were not distributed legally in Russia, since after the start of the military operation in Ukraine, the labels that released them (Universal Music and Sony Music Entertainment) announced their withdrawal from the Russian market and the withdrawal of tracks from platforms based in the Russian Federation.

Yandex Music told RBC that the company works “strictly within the framework of the law and fully fulfills its obligations to copyright holders, including on services with recommendation algorithms and with public access to content.” They emphasized that the ability to independently download audio content is not new and has existed since 2017.

Alexander Kislov