Recently it became known that the catalog of Kazakh music is no longer available on the social network Instagram, which belongs to the Meta corporation. As well as a number of foreign tracks. As it turned out, the reason is copyright.
It turned out that all these years the republican public association KazAK was responsible for Kazakhstani music on Instagram. At the same time, the royalties that Meta paid to this organization did not always reach our artists.
What happened
Songs by artists who collaborate with the Kazakhstan Authors' Society (KazAK), the name of one of the largest domestic organizations for collective management of (copyright) rights, have been removed from Instagram.
It is known that KazAK and Meta had an agreement under which Instagram paid them money for using the music of Kazakh performers. But the author community was not satisfied with the usual amount of payments, and they demanded an increase (from the Meta corporation). While negotiations were underway, the agreement expired, which is why all the music of performers who had contracts with KazAK disappeared.
What did KazAK say?
The organization claims that they are currently in negotiations with Meta.
"ROO KazAK expresses disappointment with Meta's decision to remove KazAK's repertoire instead of finding a constructive solution. KazAK regards this action as extremely negative and hostile towards the national culture of Kazakhstan. The removal of musical content demonstrates Meta's inability to value and support the cultural diversity and heritage of Kazakhstan," the message on KazAK's official website says .
On November 29, the organization held a press conference with the participation of media representatives, where they tried to answer pressing questions, namely, whether they would renew the contract with Meta, and when Kazakhstani music would be able to return to Instagram.
The general director of the ROO KazAK, Ainur Yesendikova, answered journalists’ questions.
"Our authors themselves know whether they are members of KazAK. But if not, then any author, a member of KazAK, can come to us and ask for reports or submit an application through the website. Any author who would like to know what is happening and what copyright is, can type in: "What is copyright", "Where can I apply", and the KazAK website will come up. And there is all the open information, all the financial documents and all the audit reports. We are obliged, according to the law on copyright and related rights, to publish this on our website. We can't do anything if one of the copyright holders does not know the law on copyright," said the general director of KazAK.
"We are currently sorting things out with Meta, because, as you know, not only Kazakh music was removed, but also foreign music. It turns out that Meta probably has its own technical issues. We are negotiating, we don't know about it yet. We don't know why they turned off foreign music. We have nothing to do with it," added Ainur Yesendikova.
KazAK did not provide any timeframe for when Kazakh music will return to Instagram.
What the Ministry of Justice said
The situation with the disappearance of Kazakh music from Instagram was also commented on by the Ministry of Justice, as quoted by Informburo.
"KazAK did not explain what rights and what amount are in question. Now another organization is also interested in concluding an agreement with Meta, to which a corresponding request has been sent. To resolve the situation that has arisen, it is necessary to conclude an agreement taking into account the interests of the parties," the Ministry of Justice said in a statement.
The ministry reports that there are 15 such organizations in Kazakhstan, and 7 of them are accredited. KazAK received accreditation on November 26, 2020 for a period of 5 years.
"Accreditation grants the right to conclude agreements in the interests of authors. At the same time, organizations, despite the absence of an agreement with authors, are obliged to distribute and pay the received remuneration in relation to those authors with whom such agreements have not been concluded," the ministry added.
By law, such organizations can deduct money from the royalties received to cover their expenses, but the amount of these funds should not exceed 30% of the total amount of the collected remuneration.
What the artists themselves say
Representatives of Kazakh artists reported that they are actively working to return songs to the platform – they are negotiating with international partners and distributors. According to them, during the entire period of cooperation, KazAK has not sent them a single payment. Therefore, now they and some other authors are preparing a collective complaint to the relevant authorities.
The founder of the õzen label, Aizatulla Hussein, noted that problems with author communities in Kazakhstan have long been known.
"There are problems with copyright societies that collect money for our artists but do not pay them. This has been going on for decades. Kazak represents our music internationally, but instead of helping artists, it creates new difficulties. They do not create any benefits for artists and music copyright holders, but on the contrary, they put a spoke in the wheel and do not pay, although they collect money for this. That is, there are many problems here," he said, as quoted by Tengrinews.
Yrysdaulet Slambek, label manager of AgainGame WorldWide, which distributes tracks by artists such as Shiza, Sary, Qiyal Darian, Vegas and others, said the disappearance of the music came as a complete surprise.
“We reached out to partners and platform support, but have not yet received a specific answer,” he shared.
Popular artists Dequine and Akim also reported that KazAK sells rights to use music without notifying the authors and does not pay them royalties.
"My songs were also used on all Air Astana flights without permission, consent or documents. And when I started asking questions, it turned out that the rights to my songs were sold to them by KazAk, with which I am not affiliated in any way, and with which we had no agreements. I have not seen a penny from there either," said Kazakh singer Dequine (Danelya Sadykova).
The eGov platform states that copyright is the personal property and non-property rights of an author whose creative work has created any work of science, literature or art that is an object of intellectual property, regardless of their purpose, content and merit, as well as the method and form of their expression.
In accordance with Article 9 of the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On Copyright and Related Rights", copyright in a work of science, literature and art arises by virtue of the fact of its creation. Registration of the work, other special design of the work or compliance with any formalities are not required for the emergence and exercise of copyright.
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