Russian Author's Society (RAO)

The All-Russian Public Organization "Russian Author's Society" (RAO) is a non-state non-profit organization created by the authors in 1993 to manage copyright on a collective basis. RAO unites nearly 29,000 members. The organization has concluded 189 agreements on mutual and unilateral representation of interests with 119 foreign copyright societies in 68 countries of the world. RAO is a member of the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC).

General Director - Dmitriev Maxim. Elected on August 31, 2016 at an extraordinary conference of RAO. The decision was approved by order of the Ministry of Justice No. 1713-R of 23.12.2016, the information was entered into the Unified State Register of Legal Entities of 26.12.2016.

The Russian Author's Society promotes creativity, the development of education, culture and art, provides authors with the opportunity to benefit economically from the use of their works, and also serves to achieve a harmonious balance between the exclusive property rights of authors and the interests of society.

2023

Author's fees in favor of composers, poets and screenwriters in Russia for the year increased by 16%, to 3.7 billion rubles

In 2023, copyright fees in favor of composers, poets and screenwriters in Russia reached 3.7 billion rubles. This is 16% more compared to 2022, when the figure was 3.2 billion rubles. Such data are given in the report of the Russian Author's Society (RAO), published in early September 2024.

It is said that fees for public reproduction of musical works in 2023 rose by 17% - to 2.8 billion rubles, for the reproduction of music as part of audiovisual content - by 16% with a total result of 848 million rubles. The key drivers of the industry are the increase in demand for Russian music and "an increase in the level of legal literacy in the field of intellectual property both from copyright holders and authors and from users."

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Freepik

The report also said that the total payments of RAO to foreign copyright holders, including authors from friendly countries, amounted to 41.6 million rubles. For comparison, in 2022, the amount of remuneration was 20.7 million rubles. Thus, a twofold increase was recorded.

Exclusively copyright holders from unfriendly countries and authors-foreign agents to special accounts of the "O" type in 2023 were transferred 10.56 million rubles for public reproduction of their musical works. These funds can be obtained only with the permission of the government commission for control over the implementation of foreign investments. Fyodor Kravchenko, managing partner of the college of media lawyers, believes that copyright holders are unlikely to even try to withdraw this money.

{{Quote 'Of course, the amounts collected by RAO do not make any weather for major majors who have gigantic profits in other markets. Therefore, the likelihood that they will make efforts to obtain these ridiculous amounts is extremely small, - notes Kravchenko^[1]]]

Payment of 10.6 million rubles to copyright holders from unfriendly countries

In 2023, Russia paid a meager 10.6 million rubles to copyright holders from unfriendly countries. This is stated in the report of the Russian Author's Society (RAO), which was published in September 2024.

As Vedomosti writes with reference to this document, Russian individuals and legal entities, authorities and organizations established by them, within the framework of existing licensing contracts, must pay for content to "unfriendly" copyright holders in rubles for specially created accounts of the "O" type in authorized banks.

2018: RAO achieved a recovery of 17 million rubles according to the results of the audit of ex-management

The Russian Author's Society (RAO) has obtained recovery through the arbitration court Moscow of more than 17 million. rubles Claims were filed following an independent audit of the financial and economic activities of the former RAO management. During the audit, in particular, systemic violations in the operating and financial activities of the organization were revealed, the RAO said in July 2018.

Among such violations was "a series of economically unprofitable and dubious contracts that entailed unjustified losses for RAO and the copyright holders submitted to it." The new author's council of the company decided on the need to take measures to return the money of copyright holders paid under such agreements. On July 2, 2018, the court granted two regular statements of claim in favor of ANO "Agency for Management of Non-Core and Distressed Assets of RAO."

In the first case, 6.9 million rubles were collected from Vertical LLC for violation of contractual relations in the provision of software development services. In the second case - 10.3 million rubles with Transpetskontrol LLC for non-fulfillment of the terms of a similar agreement. The actions of the defendants were qualified by the court as facts of unjust enrichment due to the absence in both cases of the services actually provided.

2016: Audit

During the audit of financial transactions of the Russian Author's Company related to the transfer of funds in 2014-2016, the facts of financial transactions on grounds that have signs of fictitious, as well as facts of ineffective use of RAO funds, which led to significant property losses, were revealed.

For example, out of the total volume of payments to counterparties verified by consultants from 2014 to 2015 for a total amount of 336 million rubles, for payments in the amount of 211 million rubles, which is 63% of the total amount, there are significant comments.

In 2015, there was a decrease in payments to authors by 6% (compared with 2014) with a simultaneous increase in payments for own expenses by 11%.

The spending plan, which was approved for 2016 in the amount of 17.485 million rubles, was exceeded several times. Funds received in the form of a commission to ensure its own activities, RAO spent and illegally increased expenses under this item from the share of remuneration that should have been paid to the authors.

In 2016, other dubious operations were recorded, the number and size of which, according to auditors, indicate that the activities of the former management in the second half of last year were aimed at illegally withdrawing funds from the organization's budget.

is that all these payments and transactions in violation of the law were made in the second half of 2016. At the time we convened the Extraordinary Conference in August 2016 and so far there have been courts. When the legally elected members of the Author's Council and the new CEO were simply not allowed to enter the RAO building. It was during this period that funds were actively withdrawn from the accounts of RAO, "said Maxim Dmitriyev, CEO of RAO

A random check of RAO expenses for employee remuneration was also carried out, which showed the dubious establishment of irregular working hours and additional vacations for individual employees. Individual allowances set for employees in most cases exceeded the size of the official salary, and in the memos sent by the heads of structural divisions to the general director there is no description of the work results and criteria for their assessment, which are the basis for bonuses. At the same time, part of the documents on remuneration is simply absent in RAO.

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