Russian pop stars perform a whole concert of Raimonds Pauls' music, but he gets no royalties
At the “New Wave 2026” contest in Kazan, Russian pop stars held an entire concert marking composer Raimonds Pauls' 90th birthday, but the composer effectively receives no royalties for the use of his songs.
From August 20 to 26, the city of Kazan in Russia hosted the international young performers' contest “New Wave 2026”. On August 24, the program included a special evening dedicated to the 90th birthday of Latvian composer Raimonds Pauls. Several well-known Russian performers took part, including Valery Leontyev, Filipp Kirkorov, Leonid Agutin, Angelika Varum, Vladimir Presnyakov, Dima Bilan, Lolita, Alsu and others, performing Pauls' melodies from various decades of his career.
Such an event raises the question of whether the composer actually receives royalties for the use of his work. In Latvia, this is clearly regulated: copyright law grants authors the right to compensation for public performance of their works, regardless of whether an event charges admission, and organizers must obtain a licence. A performer's fee for appearing on stage is separate from the royalty owed to the composer.
The principle formally exists in Russia too
Even Russia's own copyright organization, RAO, formally states that every song performed at a concert has an author entitled to royalties, and that organizers must sign a licensing agreement beforehand. In principle, then, Pauls' songs have not become freely usable material in Russia simply because their author lives in Latvia.
Payments have stopped for years
In practice, however, the situation is different. Latvia's copyright association AKKA/LAA has stated that it last received a payment from RAO in 2019, amounting to roughly 39,500 euros, with no payments received in 2020 or 2021. After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, European Union sanctions halted payment flows in both directions. The situation is further complicated by rules Russia itself introduced: a presidential decree established special rouble accounts for payments owed to rights holders from “unfriendly” countries, and transferring such funds abroad requires separate approval from a Russian government commission.
As a result, royalties for the use of Pauls' music in Russia may theoretically be calculated but never actually reach the composer in Latvia. So while his melodies continue to be performed before large Russian audiences, Pauls himself has effectively received nothing for it for several years.
