Spotify ‘Fully Suspends’ Operations in Russia Due to Ukraine Invasion

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIndie-rock pioneers Sonic Youth have released a live album recorded in 1989 in Kyiv to support relief efforts in Ukraine, in the wake of Russia’s brutal invasion of the country.To set the context of the concert — which was recorded exactly 33 years ago — at the time, Sonic Youth were one of the first bands of their ilk to play behind what was then still known as the Iron Curtain; the Berlin Wall would come down a few months later. But at the time, U.S.

severe devaluing of the ruble brought on by worldwide sanctions imposed on Russia after it invaded, approximately $49,000 USD.In a statement posted online, Roskomnadzor, Russia’s media censorship authority, complained that Wikipedia contains “unreliable socially significant materials, as well as other prohibited information,” presumably referring to largely accurate articles about the unprovoked invasion.Roskomnadzor said it contacted Wikipedia administrators and demanded they “immediately remove inaccurate information on the subject of a special military operation of the RF Armed Forces in Ukraine, aimed at misinforming Russian users.” If not, the statement said the site will be required to pay the ₽4 million.Wikipedia representatives have not commented on Russia’s demand that it fork over about 0.049% of it’s total endowment of $100 million. But in a statement issued March 3, the Wikimedia Foundation, which manages Wikipedia, said in response to earlier Russian censorship demands that it “will not back down in the face of efforts to censor and intimidate members of our movement.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorWhen Sting first released the song “Russians” in 1985, the Cold War had been raging for nearly 40 years, and the song aimed to strike a humanizing tone on the people actually behind that Iron Curtain. Just weeks earlier, the Soviet Union had gotten a young new leader named Mikhail Gorbachev who ultimately would end that war and change the world in the process, for the better, it seemed at the time.Sadly, four decades later, Russia has launched the most devastating ground war in Europe since World War II with its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, and it’s necessary to strike a humanizing tone again, and Sting has released a re-recorded version of the song to benefit www.helpukraine.center — a volunteer storage center established by Ukrainian business owners where humanitarian and medical aid can be sent from all over the world – with funds being processed through the German charity foundation, Ernst Prost, People for Peace – Peace for People.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe global recorded music market grew by 18.5% in 2021, driven by growth in paid subscription streaming, according to IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry), the organization that represents the recorded music industry worldwide. Figures released Tuesday in IFPI’s Global Music Report show total revenues for 2021 were $25.9 billion.While the free version of the report does not attach numbers to all of the rankings, they’re pretty fascinating anyway:The top 10 global artists, based on “consumption across all formats and all countries, weighted based on the value of each method of consumption,” are:The top 10 global digital singles were: The top 10 all-format albums were:And, for good measure, the top-selling vinyl titles across the world were:Digging into the data, the report notes that paid subscription streaming revenues increased by 21.9% to $12.3 billion, with 523 million users of paid subscription accounts at the end of 2021.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorOn Thursday morning, Dolly Parton ventured into the belly of Fox News’ hotbed of propaganda and misinformation, “Fox & Friends,” in an attempt to set the record straight about her decision to decline her likely nomination into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.“Well, I didn’t feel exactly right about that,” she said, while being interviewed on the show along with James Patterson, who co-authored her new book “Run, Rose Run.” “Because my perception, and I think the perception of most of America — I just feel like that’s more for the people in rock music. I’ve been educated since then, saying that it’s more than that, but I still didn’t feel right about it.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorOne might think that, just weeks after his company scraped through the biggest crisis of its existence — its stubborn defense of giving a gigantic international platform, not to mention more than $200 million, to Joe Rogan and his destructive, malignant opinions — Spotify’s Daniel Ek might exercise a little caution and humility.One might think that, after paying millions to Capitol Hill lobbyists in an ongoing battle to pay less to songwriters — the very foundation of his company’s existence — than the Copyright Royalty Board decreed it should pay, he wouldn’t spend even more millions on something as flashy and business-uncritical as sponsorship of a soccer team, especially with Russian bombs killing hundreds of Ukrainian civilians every day. But one would be wrong.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorAs Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine continues and more music companies have ceased doing business with the country, many in the songwriting, music-publishing and especially the performing-rights communities have looked to CISAC, the global confederation of authors societies such as ASCAP and PRS, to make a unilateral decision.However, on Monday, the organization announced that although it “deplores and condemns the war waged by the Russian government against the Ukrainian population,” it will leave such decisions to individual societies, although it continues to develop a relief fund for Ukraine, first announced on Wednesday.“While abhorring the actions of the Russian armed forces, CISAC is not empowered to impose sanctions on member societies based only on the actions of their government,” the statement says in part. “Russian authors, just as their counterparts elsewhere, cannot be blamed for the grotesque actions of their government.” “CISAC’s global network of authors societies deplores and condemns the war waged by the Russian government against the Ukrainian population,” the statement reads.

Spotify has shuttered its Moscow office in response to Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.Confirming its Moscow office would be closed “indefinitely”, the streaming platform said they were “providing individual support to our personnel” in Moscow, as well as their “global community of Ukrainian employees”.The new measures have come into place as sanctions have made processing payments in the country impossible.“Due to new restrictions introduced by major payment providers, payment processing is not currently possible for the majority of Premium users in Russia,” a Spotify spokesman told AFP (via Geo News).They added that paid premium accounts “will be cancelled if a recurring payment fails and the account will then be automatically moved to our free service”. The company said it had also “paused all advertising campaigns running in Russia.”In addition to restricting the discoverability of Russian state-affiliated media, the platform previously removed all content from Kremlin-backed outlets RT and Sputnik that was hosted on Spotify in the European Union and other markets.Spotify has stopped short of shutting off access for their Russian users, saying they believe it’s “critically important to try to keep our service operational in Russia to allow for the global flow of information”.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe Rolling Stones have announced dates for their 60th anniversary tour, their second jaunt since the death of founding drummer Charlie Watts last August. The European summer tour will take in fourteen shows in ten countries across the contintent and will present the premiere of “a brand new ‘Sixty’ production,” starting in Madrid on June 1.The announcement notes that the group will be playing its first concert in Liverpool in more than 50 years, followed by two shows in London’s Hyde Park.

Sony Pictures is the latest company to pause its business operations in Russia in the wake of the Ukraine invasion. SPE’s Tony Vinciquerra informed staff of the decision in a memo Friday that was obtained by TheWrap, and the pause of business operations includes halting planned home entertainment releases of “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and other future TV distribution deals.

Joe Biden announced on Friday that the U.S. and its allies are moving to revoke Russia’s “most favored nation” trade status following its invasion of Ukraine.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIn what is rapidly becoming a mass music exodus out of Russia, Kobalt became the third major company to announce on Thursday that it is suspending business activity in Russia due to the country’s invasion of Ukraine. Of the three global major labels, Sony and Warner announced their pullout within an hour of each other on Thursday morning, and Universal made the move on Tuesday.Kobalt’s move is doubly significant because although it is a global company, Kobalt was founded in London by Swedish-born Willard Ahdritz and in many ways is a European company.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSony Music has suspended all of its operations in Russia, the company has confirmed to Variety. “Sony Music Group calls for peace in Ukraine and an end to the violence. We have suspended operations in Russia and will continue our support of global humanitarian relief efforts to aid victims in need.,” the company said in a statement.Sources tells Variety that the company’s staffers will continue to receive their salaries for an undetermined time; the artists’ situation is still being worked out.Universal Music Group announced that it is suspending its operations in the country on Tuesday.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorWhile businesses across the globe have been pulling out of Russia, many have wondered why the music industry largely has not been following suit. While sanctions have severely hampered Russia’s global business and the music industry is a very small part of that business, the optics on continuing to work in the country are not good.CISAC, the global confederation of authors societies such as ASCAP and PRS, has launched a new support fund dedicated to helping the victims of the war in Ukraine, although it stopped short of suspending operations with Russia, as Universal Music Group and many other companies have.

Pussy Riot’s Nadya Tolokonnikova has spoken out in a new interview against Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, calling the Russian leader “insane”.Tolokonnikova and her Pussy Riot bandmates have been longtime critics of Putin’s regime, with Tolokonnikova herself spending two years in a Siberian prison for dissenting. Earlier this year, she and bandmate Nika Nikulshina were labelled “foreign agents” by the Russian government.In a new interview with The Guardian, Tolokonnikova discussed her fears for the people of Ukraine and the jeopardy facing Russians who speak out against Putin.“Putin just signed a law that said you’re going to get 15 years in jail for even discussing the war in Ukraine,” she said.

Christopher Vourlias Before the Russian army launched an invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, French war correspondent Loup Bureau was embedded in Donbass, the restive borderland in Eastern Ukraine, which since 2014 has been the site of an ongoing conflict between Russian-backed separatist groups and Ukrainian government forces.Reports were circulating of an impending Russian attack. Bureau, who had already spent time in the region while shooting his feature-length documentary “Trenches” – screening next week at the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival – expected it to be a localized skirmish.