VKontakte will add the ability to play audio recordings to its VK Live streaming applications.

The social network VKontakte plans to add the function of playing audio recordings from the relevant section right during the streams through its VK Live app, reports Izvestia. The author of the broadcast will be able to include any track from his audio recordings, which the stream audience will later hear. While audio recordings plan to use only in test mode.

The main problem with VK Live is copyright infringement. The administration of the social network did not enter into contracts with the right holders for such public use of their products, as indirectly indicated by the fact that the recording of the stream will be automatically deleted when using “audio recordings”.

The absence of agreements between the social network and the labels is confirmed by the right holders themselves. Maria Oparina, general director of the First Music Publishing House (PMI), said that between PMI and the social network there was a contract only for the use of music by individual users (listening through the section “Audio recordings”). There was no agreement on the use of audio recordings during the streams, and she is not aware of the latest innovations.
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Representatives of two more major labels declined to comment, but noted that they had heard about the new product.

VK Live functions imply automatic saving of the recording of the stream after it ends so that those viewers who did not have time for the live broadcast could familiarize themselves with the content later. In the case of audio recordings, the video stream will be automatically deleted. This indirectly indicates that the social network administration is aware of copyright infringement of labels. Using the new function in a test mode means that for the time being the company’s management will try to evaluate all the pros and cons and are not ready to enter into formal negotiations with the rights holders, who will undoubtedly require financial guarantees in the form of a fixed amount for the very possibility of using their intellectual property during public broadcasts which are streams.

At the same time, the test mode will allow the VC administration to collect statistics on the popularity of certain performers during the streams, from which it will be possible to operate during negotiations.

Recall that in 2016, Mail.ru Group reached an agreement with major major labels, which allowed legalizing most of the music on the company's social networks, VKontakte and Odnoklassniki. Mail.ru partners are such labels as Universal Music, Sony Music and Warner Music, as well as Russian First Music Publishing House, Soyuz and Nikitin.

However, this did not save the company from lawsuits by smaller domestic rights holders, for example, Moroz Records (this label owns the rights to the Kino group's songs, Sounds of Mu and Cruise). The size of license fees for playing each track became a stumbling block: foreign labels receive much larger sums from the Mail.ru Group.

If the social network decides to retain the ability to play audio recordings during streams and negotiates with labels, VK Live will be one of the first streaming services that will bring the music out of the shadows at its own expense. At other sites, copyright compliance lies on the shoulders of the streamers themselves. Some of them follow the rules and use music that does not violate copyright and the rules of the site (primarily for streams on YouTube), for example, DJ compositions and mixes that are hosted online for free. Others allow this question to drift, which often ends with the removal of stream records or channel lock.