Modern music is on Bulgarian radio again. For two months, there has been only classical music or folk songs that were over 70 years old, before World War II. Copyright rules meant the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) could not play pop music. In the European Union, copyright disappears 70 years after an artist's death. BNR made a deal with the copyright organization. It will now pay more royalties – money given to artists every time it plays their songs.
In the past two months, the number of listeners to BNR's shows went up by 20 per cent. It seems listeners like listening to older music like Bulgarian folk tunes, classical music and pre-war jazz more than Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift. BNR might change the music it plays. The boss of BNR, Aleksandar Velev, said there could be new radio stations. He said current radio shows will not change, but there will be new shows with different types of music.