UACRR will pay royalty to Eurovision songwriters for the first time
Hosting Eurovision 2017 marked another success of Ukrainian copyright system that finally started to revive after stagnation. We are glad to inform that the biggest musical contest of Europe, won by Portugese singer Salvador Sobral, was licensed by UACRR. It means that for the first time ever the authors of contesting songs are going to get royalties from Ukraine for broadcasting of their compositions. Yet, most importantly, the collection of royalties for public performance at live events in the framework of Eurovision was secured this time. It became possible after protracted negotiations and finally reaching an agreement between UACRR and national broadcaster UA:First, that was the main contest organizer. Continuous support and firm stance of our umbrella organization, International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC), played it’s crucial role in succesful conlusion of the agreement.
Despite the fact that Eurovision was held in Ukraine for the second time, earlier the contesting songs’ authors, presenting the countries from all Europe, did not get their royalty from Ukrainian users. After Eurovision-2005, that took place in Kyiv, authors from all over the world weren’t rewarded for live performance of their songs as the part of contest. In particular, it was mentioned by UACRR Interim Director General Dmytro Kostiuk in his column for the “New Time”:
“Ukrainian Agency of Copyright and Related Rights (UACRR) has very good news to share: this time national broadcaster (UA:First) – being the organizer of Eurovision 2017 – paid the royalties to the authors for public performance and broadcasting of their works during Eurovision song contest in Ukraine. Our country hosted this contest for the first time in 2005. We were happy that our victory in Istanbul gave us an opportunity to show the world that Ukraine is not only Chernobyl. However, in terms of royalty payments we failed back then.
This year foreign and Ukrainian authors whose songs were performed during Eurovision will get their remuneration for public performance and broadcasting of their works for the first time. This achievement is a big victory of UACRR’s team. UA:First has never paid for the broadcasting of Eurovision since independence. We held numerous talks and meetings with the management of UA:First that resulted in striking this historic deal”.
Thus, authors of 42 musical compositions that were performed during Eurovision 2017 will receive their remuneration, as well as the authors of those songs that were performed by guests of the show including Ukrainian creators Jamala, Ruslana and Onuka.