Investigators of the National Police of Ukraine have declared suspicion against the director of a music label, who defrauded the heirs of a «famous musician» of almost 1.5 million hryvnias. According to Hromadske, this is about the deceased musician Kuzma Skryabin (Andriy Kuzmenko).
Investigators of the National Police of Ukraine have declared suspicion against the director of a music label, who defrauded the heirs of a «famous musician» of almost 1.5 million hryvnias. According to Hromadske, this is about the deceased musician Kuzma Skryabin (Andriy Kuzmenko).
«After the artist’s death, the copyright to all of his work was inherited by his wife, who founded a company to manage the intellectual property he received. The deceased’s wife’s company granted a license for any reproduction of all of his songs to a record label that produces famous Ukrainian artists», — the Cyberpolice post says.
The law enforcement reports do not reveal the name of the label or the musician. However, Hromadske has learned that it is about Scriabin’s work.
It is noted that the agreement provided that 70% of the income from the use of the singer’s intellectual property would be received by his wife, and 30% for the management of his assets would be received by the record label. However, the calculation of royalties, which was sent to the company of the deceased’s wife for three years from the moment of signing the agreement, did not correspond to the real data on the digital music distribution market. The director of the record label intentionally underestimated the number of listening to music tracks on streaming platforms and the amount of remuneration to the copyright holder, law enforcement officials claim.
The Cyber Police found that in order to increase illegal profits, the record label entered into an agreement with a Czech company that distributes music. They assured the Scriabin heiress that the foreign company was their subsidiary and did not take any interest from the profits. But in reality, they took up to 85% of the profits, and the real number of listenings on streaming platforms was also underestimated.
According to an independent intellectual property expert, the digital distribution of the deceased musician’s recordings in 2017-2019 should have brought his wife at least 1.5 million in profit.
Law enforcement officers have reported the music label’s management to authorities on suspicion of fraud committed on a large scale (Part 4, Article 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). They face up to 8 years in prison.
Recall that previously, 52-year-old Michael Smith from North Carolina, USA, used nearly 10,000 bots to stream songs generated by artificial intelligence on various streaming services. Thus, he illegally received about $10 million.
