The National Police of Ukraine reported the suspicion of the director of the music label, who for three years has been extinguished by the widowed musician for almost 1.5 million hryvnias. According to the media, it is about Andriy Kuzmenko (Kuzma Skryabin), and his wife, who inherited copyright to the artist's work after his tragic death in 2015, is the victim.
After Kuzma Skryabin's death, his wife founded a company that manages the musician's intellectual heritage. She concluded a contract with a music label that was licensed to reproduce his songs. According to the agreement, 70% of the income had to receive the right holders, and 30% remained label for asset management.
However, the investigation found that the director of label was reduced by the number of songs on stringing platforms and incorrectly calculated the amounts of rewards for the artist's widow.
In order to increase his income, the label has made an agreement with a Czech company that deals with the distribution of music. Representatives of this firm assured that they do not take additional percent from profit. In fact, they received up to 85% of digital distribution income, and the number of real auditions was also deliberately reduced.
Police qualified the director's actions as a deliberate deception for the purpose of gaining undue benefit. Kuzma Scriabin's widow suffered significant financial losses due to the lowering of real income from the use of her husband's creative heritage.
The director of the musical label was reported suspicion, and law enforcement officers are investigating to establish all the details of the scheme.
