Warner Music Group has suspended all of its operations in Russia, the company has confirmed to Variety.
“Warner Music Group is suspending operations in Russia, including investments in and development of projects, promotional and marketing activities, and manufacturing of all physical products,” according to a statement from the company. “We will continue to fulfill our agreed upon obligations to our people, artists, and songwriters as best we can as the situation unfolds. We remain committed to supporting the humanitarian relief efforts in the region.”
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The news comes less than an hour after Sony Music announced that it is suspending operations in the country, and less than two days after Universal Music Group. All three major labels — Universal, Sony and Warner — have local labels and operations in Russia; the three companies all have made donations to Ukraine relief efforts.
Warner Music became a publicly traded company in 2020 after being acquired in 2011 by Access Industries, a company owned by Ukraine-born entrepreneur Len Blavatnik, who is now a naturalized dual-citizen of the U.S. and the U.K. Before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the company had developed a strong presence in Russia and last year acquired the label Zhara Music, rebranding it Atlantic Records Russia.
Early Tuesday, the U.K.’s performing rights organization, PRS for Music, said it has formally and immediately suspended its rights representation relationship with RAO, the Russian collecting society for musical works, “pending confirmation of its separation from the Russian Government and those individuals and companies on the sanctions lists.” BMI in the U.S. made a similar statement this week: “BMI has suspended its copyright representation payments to RAO, the Russian collection society for musical works. Additionally, we are working with CISAC on a broader effort that will help benefit creators in the Ukraine and surrounding areas, while also providing humanitarian aid to those who are so desperately in need.”
CISAC, which is the governing body of all global collection societies, launched a Ukraine relief fund on Wednesday and, sources say, is continuing to assess the status of Russian collection management organizations. Many in the publishing and songwriter community, including songwriter Ross Golan, have publicly called for collection societies to stop doing business with Russia.
A rep for France-based label and distributor Believe Music, which has a substantial market presence and 40-employee staff in the country, tells Variety that it has “no plans to suspend operations in Russia for the moment but we are monitoring the situation very closely as it is developing constantly.”
SIAE, the Italian performing rights organization, also has suspended payments to RAO. Sources say a number of publishers in the US have unilaterally stopped issuing sync licenses that include Russia.
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