The popular singer Viktor Balakirev, who performs chanson-style songs, filed a lawsuit in the Taganrog court of Moscow demanding to pay him 400 thousand rubles. The singer considers the MTS company as his offender, which, without his knowledge, used the singer’s works as a phone call. The claim was made up of 8 songs from the artist’s repertoire, which at one time were very popular.
As stated in the lawsuit, “MTS” illegally used these songs in 2010, offering users to pay money to set them to a beep or as a ringtone. Moreover, at that time the company no longer had permission to use the composition data - earlier the singer recalled it. In 2010, he already had a contract with RAO - the Russian copyright community, which helps musicians defend the rights to their works. Thus, in fact, between MTS and the chansonnier there was no agreement on the use of songs, and the actions of the operator are regarded only as piracy. The singer asked to take into account not only financial, but also moral harm caused to him by such actions of the company. As a result, the damage was estimated at 400,000 rubles, in addition, the losing side will have to pay legal costs.
By the way, now Balakirev is not as popular as in the old days. He began his solo career 10 years ago, and before that he was the producer of the well-known group Chi-Li, which has many hits. Balakirev often participated in international competitions and charity events.
