Presentation of legal background music streaming service FONMIX held in Minsk

On May 28, Minsk hosted the presentation of FONMIX service – a modern IT solution for organizing background audio and video business design. Experts praised the potential of the new digital solutions to improve the efficiency of the music market in Belarus, and the artists noted the ease and transparency of service.

The event was attended by Alexey Bichurin, the Head of the Center for Collective Management of Rights of the National Center of Intellectual Property (NCIP); Oleg Molchan, the President of the Confederation of Rightholders’ Societies of Europe and Asia (CRSEA); Irina Vdovina, Belorussian singer and poetess; Irina Dorofeeva singer, honored artist of the Republic of Belarus, associate Professor of art pop Belarus State University of Culture and Arts, member of the house of representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus of the VI convocation; Valeria Pankratova, CEO at FONMIX; Vladimir Zayets, Business Development Manager at FONMIX; and Alexander Sevruk, Head of FONMIX Representative Office in the Republic of Belarus. Sergey Kukhto, the Chairman of the Board of the Public Association “Belarus Society of Authors, Performers and Other Rightholders” (BOAIP) moderated the event.

The participants agreed that the Belarus music market needs new digital solutions that can protect the rights of authors and simplify the work of entrepreneurs. As noted by Aleksey Bichurin, Head of the Center for Collective Management of Rights of National Center of Intellectual Property (NCIP), “such solutions as FONMIX are necessary because they work in the interests of everyone: the copyright holders, in whose interests we work, and the users, as this is a convenient service for using music. Our organization grants rights, but cannot provide the music content, so there should be a separate company engaged in aggregating content. From the point of view of NCIP, the advantage of FONMIX is a benchmark for the provision of legal content and copyright compliance.”

Experts noted that the service greatly simplifies the control over the use of musical compositions and ensures that the copyright holder receives reliable information about the royalties. Valeria Pankratova, CEO at FONMIX, said, “when creating our solution, we first of all proceeded from the interests of copyright holders, but we simply could not ignore the interests of business as well. The task of the entrepreneur is to attract customers, create a comfortable atmosphere, and evoke positive emotions. Recent marketing research shows that if the purchase is accompanied by pleasant music, the desire to purchase goods increases by 65%, and visitors are more likely to return to establishments with correctly selected repertoire. Background music management is an important part of business”. At the same time, Valeria Pankratova pointed out the difficulties encountered in the sound design of the areas. “When working with music, there are a huge number of rules that must be followed, otherwise the effect will be the opposite of what was intended. You need to take into account the configuration and capacity of the premises, your target audience, time of the day and day of the week, volume, sound distribution and many other factors. The best musical design is the one that suits exactly your goals, audience and your brand. FONMIX makes it easy and simple to manage this complex process,” said the CEO of FONMIX.

The service catalog includes about 10 million units of content, said Vladimir Zaets, Business Development Manager at FONMIX: “You can manage the music from anywhere in the world, from any equipment. The main advantages of the service are monetization, a guarantee of legitimate use, and an additional channel of communication with the audience. “We carefully listen to the opinions of specialists and experts and work to ensure that our solution meets all the needs of the business.”

According to the Head of the FONMIX representative office in the Republic of Belarus, Alexander Sevruk, the main task of the service is to support copyright holders and business. “We are here to ensure that projects are profitable, and copyright holders see what we are needed for. I can proudly say that there is a FONMIX product in the market for which honesty and decency are important. Our service is unique for its simplicity and scale, the amount of content and features,” said Sevruk.

Irina Dorofeeva, Honored Artist of the Republic of Belarus and a deputy, spoke on behalf of the creative community. The singer expressed hope that the new copyright protection mechanisms will help to develop the Belarusian music market and support local performers. “FONMIX will allow us to further regulate relations between copyright holders, performers and users who are interested in sounding music being legally used. Unfortunately, today the performers are not protected to the extent that we would count on and expect. Many musicians are forced to promote each song over years, without receiving benefits for the use of their creation. We need to further develop the market of background music, and I hope that the FONMIX service will open up new opportunities for Belarus artists,” said Dorofeeva.

At the end of the presentation participants shared their views on the opportunities and benefits of using the service. Alexander Sevruk gave all guests a free one-month subscription at the conclusion of the contract and expressed hope for further productive cooperation in the development of the Belarusian music market.