LATGA Called To Account

A group of 95 authors has asked the state prosecutor to investigate the finances at LATGA, the Lithuanian royalty collection agency.

International acts including Cantopop singer Andy Lau and UK dance act M People have joined Baltic acts such as Lithuanian rockers Happyendless and Igor Kofas in a bid to get access to LATGA’s books.

Lithuanian news portal Lyrtas.lt reported that so far LATGA, the equivalent of the UK’s PRS, has turned down their request for more transparency.

The authors believe LATGA may be underpaying royalties by as much as euro 200,000 per year and they also want an explanation of how a collection agency employing 30 people can run up overheads of about euro 1 million.

The group has also called for LATGA chief Edmund Vaitekÿnas to stand down.

The problem started when Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group sought a court order preventing Baltic promoter Makroconcerts and the producers of an orchestral version of “Jesus Christ Superstar” from staging the production.

Webber’s company says it was asked permission for the show to be staged in The Baltics and neighbouring countries, but declined after taking advice from LATGA.

Makroconcerts’ lawyer Laura Stankeviÿiÿtÿ told Pollstar the company had paid royalties for its previous productions of JSC and she wondered if the court order was a signal that Really Useful Group had never received the money.

Marius Kuzminas, who heads LATGA’s musical works department, said the authors’ action is part of “a fight for power.” He said the group does not represent the majority of the association’s membership and so it’s been forced to take a legal route to getting its own way.