Russia’s Mail.Ru inks deal with Universal to license audio, video

MOSCOW, Jul 15 (PRIME) -- Russian Internet giant Mail.Ru Group has signed agreements with United Music Agency (UMA) and Universal Music Group (UMG) to license audio and video content on its platforms, Mail.Ru Group said in a statement Friday.

“Our partnership with leading rights’ owners will draw the whole Russian music market to a new level and will allow us to offer our audience the best world music in existing and new digital products,” Chairman of Mail.Ru Group’s board of directors Dmitry Grishin said.

Now Mail.Ru Group has partnership agreements with three leading international rights’ owners of musical products: UMG, Warner Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment. UMA, which focuses on media content licensing and has contracts with rights’ owners, ensured signing of the agreement.

The agreements provide users of Mail.Ru Group’s social networks – VKontakte, Odnoklassniki and My World – with access to licensed content.

VKontakte and Universal Music amicably settled suspended court lawsuits. The network earlier signed similar agreements with Sony Music and Warner Music.

Mail.Ru Group’s social networks will test different models of monetization jointly with other market participants to find an optimal scheme for artists and users.

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