Will there be royalties?

15.03.2022

Due to the difficult economic situation, there may be problems with receiving royalties by authors. Foreign copyright holders fear such outcome, for example, Disney, because there was a precedent. Due to sanctions against banks in the Russian Federation, users of the Patreon platform today cannot receive their royalties from abroad.

Russian Authors’ Society reports that there are no problems at the moment, but they are likely to appear in the foreseeable future. If the authors stop receiving funds for their work, a “symmetrical response” will follow. However, what the “answer” will be is still unclear. In this case, monetary losses on both sides will be catastrophic, and piracy will flourish like never before. This is especially scary amid reports that the infamous RuTracker may soon be unlocked.

The owners of intellectual property rights themselves are also afraid of problems in the future, because the banking sector in Russia is not in the best condition now.

Not so long ago, a letter from Disney Media Group was published on Twitter, stating that Disney representatives are seriously concerned about the problem of piracy. As an example, many Russian-language songs from the recent Encanto cartoon are already illegally “spread out” on the YouTube platform. Also, representatives of Disney Media Group announced possible problems for music publishers concerning royalties from Russian Authors’ Society.

Russian Authors’ Society itself is engaged in the fact that it rewards copyright holders for public listening to music. Russian Authors’ Society transfers royalties for foreign copyright holders on the basis of agreements with foreign companies. In 2020, more than 223 million rubles were paid to foreign right holders.

If the money channel is closed, then both foreign copyright holders whose music is played in Russia and the Russian ones whose music is played abroad will remain without royalties. In other words, absolutely everyone will lose.