Songwriters Ask to Have Music Licensing Halted in Russia While War Continues
variety.comChris Willman Music WriterHit songwriter Ross Golan, who has crafted smashes for Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, One Direction and Demi Lovato, has started a petition on Change.org asking the music community to stop licensing songs in Russia for as long as the nation wages war on Ukraine.The petition, posted Thursday afternoon here, was put up for the purpose of allowing songwriters to make their voices heard in requesting that collection agencies sever ties with their counterpart orgs in Russia, to ensure that they won’t be profiting from the rogue-superpower nation while the bloody siege of its neighbor country continues.“Currently, a portion of our royalties are going directly to the Russian government, which in turn funds their invasion into Ukraine,” Golan says.
The petition — credited to “And the Writer Is,” the podcast Golan started to spotlight writers and their issues — reads: “The global songwriting business stands with Ukraine.
I refuse to have my songs licensed in Russia while their government invades Ukraine. I’m signing this petition asking that my collection society sever ties with RAO (Russia’s government mandated collection society) immediately.
Join the fight against tyranny by signing up here.”Other segments of the music community have looked at ways to cut ties with or at least not profit from Russia during the crisis.
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