They don’t pay, they order the music

In nine months, the number of cases involving the use of music in commercial premises without payment has increased by 25-30% year-on-year. At the same time, the amount of fines imposed by the court reaches 150 thousand rubles. Experts believe that the number of cases will grow – this is facilitated by the lack of awareness of business about the need for royalties and the reluctance to pay them to foreign labels that left the market last year.

“Kommersant” got acquainted with the data from Cubic Media (provides music accompaniment for stores, shopping centers, restaurants, serving 45 thousand points in the Russian Federation and the CIS) on fines for non-payment of background music in commercial premises. It follows from them that over nine months, the number of cases on claims from the Russian Copyright Society (RAO) regarding the commercial use of music by business without payment increased by 25–30% year on year (absolute figures are not given). Only the minimum possible number of cases of non-payment and amounts are taken into account, since most cases are resolved before trial, analysts said. Thus, according to them, more than 50 cases reach the court per month, and the average amount of recovery for them is about 150 thousand rubles. (according to Cubic Media, the amount corresponds to 60 months of legal use of music for a coffee shop in Moscow with an area of ​​up to 50 sq. m).

Each company must either make royalties for the use of music by RAO and WIPO or by copyright holders directly, or cooperate with music services that take on royalties and/or offer licensed music, explains commercial director of Cubic Media Dmitry Yakovlev: “We are the main reason for the increase in violations We see precisely the lack of awareness of business about the need for royalties for using music for commercial purposes.” For the unlawful use of copyrighted objects, the Code of Administrative Offenses provides for a fine of up to 40 thousand rubles. for legal entities and up to 20 thousand rubles for officials. “In addition, the prosecutor’s office can confiscate audio equipment,” adds Alexandra Stengauer, head of the legal department of Cubic Media.

The reason for the increase in the number of cases of business using music without payment could be the withdrawal of foreign copyright holders from the market (Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony Music suspended work in Russia after the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine in February 2022), believes the founder of the community “Music Lawyers”. industry” Ilya Chamukha: “Business may have decided that they can use music and not be afraid of the consequences.” Back in the spring of 2023, cinemas and restaurateurs asked to suspend royalties for foreign music due to the suspension of transactions by foreign OCUPs, but RAO stated that they do not plan to stop collecting (see Kommersant, March 23, 2022). RAO did not answer Kommersant.

Market participants still have the question of where RAO pays the money received from collecting royalties for foreign musical compositions, Igor Bukharov, president of the Federation of Restaurateurs and Hoteliers of Russia, told Kommersant. According to him, market participants are also not satisfied with the calculation of payment, which now depends on the type of premises, number of seats and area. Market participants would like to pay for works according to the number of plays, Mr. Bukharov added: “As it was in the system of the Moscow association of musical ensembles back in the USSR.” The Association of Cinema Owners did not answer Kommersant.

Yulia Yurasova