Ruslana’s new Ukrainian album “Amazonka” will be available free on www.ruslana.ua from May 2008 in a move to discourage music piracy in Ukraine

Kyiv, Ukraine – At a press conference on 24 April, on the eve of the World Intellectual Property Day (26 April), Ruslana announced that starting in May 2008, fans will be allowed to download her latest Ukrainian-language album “Amazonka” from her website on the principle “take it free or pay what you can and consider appropriate”. Ruslana will thus join a handful of top world artists, including Radiohead, who have already opened their music for free downloads through their official websites.

Ruslana began by asking one of her managers to go online and in front of the eyes of dozens of journalists start downloading her new album free of charge from a pirate site. She confessed that due to widespread piracy in Ukraine, she has suffered major losses since her new album “Amazonka” went on sale on 1 March of this year.

Ruslana’s bold move is, in the first place, directed against widespread intellectual piracy in Ukraine, and provides a lawful and high-quality alternative to shady low-grade downloads often available through websites with questionable content. Ruslana is especially keen on undercutting this kind of piracy since her main target group is teenagers who may be vulnerable to dubious web content.

“My fans won’t need to chase my music on questionable webs resources going through dozens of links, porn sites and advertising portals. I don’t want my fans to be labeled music thieves. A simple and readily available way of obtaining music from the actual rights holder should bring the Ukrainian consumer to a logical conclusion: If you are looking for music online, first go to the author!” said Ruslana.

She accused the government, regulatory and law-enforcement authorities of turning a blind eye on intellectual piracy in Ukraine. According to Ruslana, the state-blessed “intellectual robbery” undermines the development of the professional music market in the country and doesn’t allow Ukrainian artists to live off their creative work. She called on the Ukrainian prime minister and the government to start dealing with the issue and proposed to introduce changes into legislation governing online music distribution, the “law of Ruslana” as she put it. At the same time, Ruslana acknowledged that the persistent inactivity of the authorities mandates action by citizens to protect their own rights. Ruslana also called on her fans and the country’s ISPs to support her fight against intellectual piracy.

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