General Director of the RSP and RAO - about the global license, the theft in the Russian Authors' Society, about his resignation

Source: RAO reporting

The Russian Authors' Society ( RAO ) receives payments from all television channels, radio stations, theaters, cinemas, cafes, shops, and any public institutions in general. Given the large number of taxpayers (there are more than 28 thousand), in 2014 a significant amount was collected - about 4.6 billion rubles. From here, approximately 856 million rubles were deducted "to cover the expenses of RW for the collection, distribution and payment of royalties."

In the summer of 2015, it became known that law enforcement agencies were investigating the details of the alleged theft of RW assets. We are talking about hundreds of millions of rubles. That summer, RAO announced its intention to merge with two other accredited organizations for more efficient fundraising.
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And finally, on December 17, it became known that Sergey Fedotov leaves the post of general director of the Russian Union of Rights Holders ( RSP ). However, he will continue to lead RAO.

He told the publication of RBC about the reasons for his departure, the reform of the RAO, the investigative verification and the work on projects for the protection of copyright.

"Megamind" leads the most interesting quotes from the interview .

On the merger of RW with RSP and WIPO

In June 2015, it became known that RAO and two more of the accredited organizations - the Russian Union of Rights Holders (RSP) and the All-Russian Intellectual Property Organization ( WIPO ) planned to unite. The new organization was to receive the name “Trade Union of Cultural Workers“ Russian Authors' Society ”.

Today there is a pause in the unification process. We must understand the situation in the RAO itself, we are not ready to unite now. But from the very idea and from the fact that in the future in some form this will be done - no one refuses from this.

There was also a legal dispute. We saw the joint structure as an organization that is not only responsible for managing rights, but also carries out trade union functions. Today we understand that this should not even be a trade union, but rather a professional association that will allow to take into account the interests of all parties, for example, music producers. Such an add-on can form professional rules of work in the market, on such a platform it will be convenient to build a dialogue with users - TV channels, radio stations.

On the reform of radioactive waste

Today, RAO has formed an objective imbalance between the interests of the authors - between individuals and companies that are also major rightholders and who occupy a large segment of the music market. The board is not fully represented by a number of major rightholders, this gap needs to be filled. Right holders are now different entities - there are heirs, individuals, there are the authors themselves, there are legal entities, and we must reckon with all, since they represent a large segment of the market.

In addition, there is a question of the legal form of radioactive waste. This is a problematic form, because a commercial structure cannot be a member of a public organization, and this is not a new problem, it has existed since the creation of RAO in 1993. It is necessary to allow legal entities not so much to participate in the management of this organization, as to create conditions for the control of activities.

We want to force the transformation as much as possible - it should take no more than two months, as I see it. For my part, I am now trying to explain to everyone that such an organization as RAO should be preserved. In this form, in such an organizational form, with the people who are in it today — I don’t know ... But we cannot destroy it, it’s a basic organization, not only in our country, but also in the CIS.

About global license

Earlier, it was the Ministry of Culture that prepared the draft amendments on the global license. The author of this idea is the Russian Union of copyright holders. The essence of the idea is the need to obtain a global license by Russian telecom operators from an organization accredited by the state. This initiative in the spring of 2015 has already received negative reviews from most experts: the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Communications and Mass Media, as well as from Internet companies and telecom operators.

The fact that the Ministry of Communications has its proposals ... We respect these proposals, but at the moment, the Ministry of Culture still oversees our position.

As far as I know, the Ministry of Communications and Reconciliation reacted with understanding to the fact that the PMC (Collective Management Rights Organization) works on the basis of the so-called blanket (non-contractual; on behalf of all) license.

There will be no more global licenses as proposed. The only mechanism is to do this together with the communications industry. We will deal with this topic in any case, since we represent the interests of a large number of authors who are not covered by the publishing industry, who have not transferred their rights to anyone, any production centers. In this sense, RAO is also a player along with publishers who protect the interests of their authors. It is in their interest that we tried to promote a global license. And I still think that they do not get enough of what they owe.

About investigative verification

In the summer of this year, the Main Department for Economic Security and Anti-Corruption of the Ministry of Internal Affairs conducted an audit of the activities of four subsidiaries of RAO - Service-Operation Company CJSC (SEC), Media-M Management Company CJSC, Media Management CJSC and Management Company CJSC "Musical Olympus". According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in 2012-2014, RAO transferred property in the amount of 557 million rubles to the balance of these companies, after which three of the four companies were liquidated.
On November 24, Megamozg wrote that Igor Matvienko, a member of the author’s board of the Russian Authors' Society, at a meeting of the Council for Culture under the chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, said that RAO was not functioning and the organization’s accounts were blocked. According to Matvienko, the size of the theft of his "hair stood on end".

There was a chain of events that provoked a certain tension around our organization. It turned out that the model that we proposed [“global license”] is unsuitable in real life, as a result of which tension has arisen in relations with a number of structures. I do not want to name specific names or surnames, but this situation objectively arose.

There was also a rather loud and complicated story with the Russian media group. Again, I do not want to concretize anything, but somehow it turned out that our organizations involuntarily got into the orbit of this story.

The statement of Igor Igorevich [Matvienko], which was made publicly (about theft in the amount of about 1 billion rubles), I regard as a rather emotional act. This was due to the fact that at that time we did not have a dialogue, unfortunately. And now there is. But he said what he said, now what to do, especially since everyone understands that this is not quite so - no accounts are blocked.

The check is underway, but I was asked not to comment on it, because it interferes with the work of law enforcement agencies. When I spoke with law enforcement, I looked at the anonymous letter that was written. Based on the form of presentation, the issues raised, I got the impression that it was written by the author.

About the reasons for resignation

I leave the post of general director of the RSP, staying there on the board and on the board. This is due to the fact that, in my opinion, the situation with the Russian Authors ’Society now requires my most attention. It is necessary to understand that from the critics that have sounded lately from right holders constructively and really require changes, and what is an emotional history, that is, is connected with the relationship with me personally.

Recently, one of the claims to the activities of companies was statements about a certain monopolization of the market, that “Fedotov is everywhere a lot”, I again made a decision. I told everyone: let Krichevsky lead the RSP. I myself once invited him to work, taught him everything, he is well versed in the market, so it is absolutely logical that he headed the RSP. It would be illogical if it was someone third.