Even though Ukraine is in a full-scale war with Russia for over six months already, the Ukrainian music charts are still booming with Russian music.
Some Ukrainians continue to watch and listen to Russian content. There is a subtle belief going on that music is out of politics. However, this is not the case and never was. By listening to Russian artists, Ukrainians unintentionally finance the Russian army.
What is streaming?
Streaming refers to media content, like videos, music, and TV shows that are delivered to computers and mobile devices via the internet and can be played back in real-time. Spotify subscription costs $9.99/month, and YouTube Music – $9.99 per month.
A certain percentage of subscription payments is paid to the artists when subscribed viewers or listeners are streaming music or watching a video. In addition, the streaming platforms additionally pay musicians and bloggers a percentage of ad views from non-subscribers.
With millions of views and streams, Russian musicians and bloggers get an income from Ukrainian users. This income will be then taxed.
How does it work?
The streaming platforms pay artists royalties based on the number of streams the song gets. The rate per stream is relatively small (on average $0.004). However, when it comes to established Russian artists with millions of monthly streams, it can get to a substantial payout, from which these artists eventually pay taxes to the government.
These taxes go over to finance the Russian army, weapons, and the killing of civilians in Ukrainian cities.
Ukrainian musician @alexjazzz has published detailed infographics on his Instagram page, where he explained how monetization works on different platforms such as Spotify, YouTube, and Apple Music. In the post, the author also shows the payout for a thousand streams and other important stats.
Streaming platforms are leaving the Russian market
Spotify had firstly suspended its premium services in Russia but then decided to completely leave the Russian market in March due to the laws restricting news operations. Major labels such as Warner Music, Universal Music, and Sony also suspended their operations in Russia, following the invasion of Ukraine.
Even though, Apple restricted product sales in Russia, the company’s streaming service, Apple Music, is still available. YouTube Music and other streaming platforms are operating in the Russian market to this day.
Top 100: Ukraine
As of April 12, in the top 50 Spotify Ukraine, there are 30 Russian songs and only 10 Ukrainian. The situation in the top 50 Apple Music is a little different: As of April 12, there are 15 Russian songs and 25 Ukrainian.
Conclusion
For Ukrainians, It’s necessary to completely abandon the Russian content right now. it may be hard as it often falls through with algorithms on TikTok or YouTube and gets shown to Ukrainian users on their ‘Recommended’.
Many Ukrainian artists encourage people to start listening to Ukrainian music and consume more Ukrainian content, as it helps to promote the culture and encourage further growth of the market.
