Mail.ru Group is on the verge of legalizing foreign music content in its projects

The signing of a contract with Universal Music - the largest Western label

According to Vedomosti newspaper sources close to the negotiators, in the near future, Mail.ru Group may sign contact with Universal Music for the use of music content within its own projects. First of all it concerns the social networks "Vkontakte", "Classmates" and "My World".



So far we are talking about about $ 8 million over three years, which will be paid in the form of "minimum guarantees" for the very fact of using music.



Under the contract, Mail.ru Group will pay Universal license fees for the music placed in their projects. Taking into account the agreements reached with Sony Music and Warner Music, Mail.ru will annually transfer about $ 7 million to rightholders. About $ 2 million a year, the technology giant will pay the Russian PMI (First Music Publishing House). There are also agreements with the studios "Union" and "Nikitin".

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Since 2010, the social network "Vkontakte" is in the list of "301", in which the US Trade Representation annually reflects the largest in the Internet resources that violate copyright. In 2014, Sony, Universal and Warner tried to sue Mail.ru Group, but the court found the company a “bona fide information broker” and the lawsuit against the company from the copyright holders was not satisfied.



Why does Mail.ru agree to such an agreement? More than half of the music content in the social. Vkontakte networks are downloaded by the users themselves, and the ability to create your own lists of audio recordings and listen to them has become an integral part of the resource. Denying users access to music can cause irreparable damage to the largest Russian-language social network. That is why the technology giant is looking for ways to legalize content and maintain the status quo.



And if the contract with the troika Universal, Sony and Warner (which owns the lion’s share of rights to foreign content), according to sources from Vedomosti, is resolved, then with the Russian right holders it’s not so simple.







About 70% of the music content consumed by users of the Russian Internet is of Russian origin, but Mail.ru’s directory of legal music is relatively small. Therefore, the company will have to make some efforts to address this issue.