By: Nicholas Yun
The 2026 Winter Olympics brought an unexpected legal controversy to the ice rink: music copyright licensing.[1] Several figure skaters at the 2026 Winter Olympics ran into unexpected problems with the music chosen for their routines.[2] In some cases, athletes were told only days before competing that their songs had not been fully cleared for Olympic broadcast, forcing last-minute program changes.[3] In others, artists publicly questioned whether proper permission had been obtained for worldwide television and streaming coverage.[4] An issue that is usually handled behind the scenes suddenly became part of the Olympic spotlight, highlighting that copyright law applies just as firmly on the ice as it does in film, television, or advertising.
Unlike regular-season skating competitions, the Olympic Games involve international broadcast distribution across dozens of jurisdictions.[5] When a skater performs to a copyrighted song, multiple rights may be implicated.[6] These include public performance rights, synchronization rights, and potentially mechanical or reproduction rights depending on how the footage is distributed.[7] While many domestic arenas operate under blanket licenses from performing rights organizations, those licenses often do not extend to global television broadcasts, streaming, or archival Olympic footage.[8] As a result, athletes or governing bodies must ensure that music is properly cleared for worldwide transmission.[9]
At the 2026 Winter Olympics, music licensing became a high-stakes hurdle when a single figure skating routine triggered a complex web of intellectual property rights.[10] While local arenas often have blanket licenses for live music, these typically don’t cover “synchronization rights”—the specific legal permission needed to pair a song with a visual performance for a global broadcast.[11] Since the Games are distributed across dozens of international jurisdictions, any failure to clear these rights can force athletes into last-minute program changes or trigger public legal threats from artists.[12] Ultimately, these glitches are more than just legal red tape; they are major business risks that can mess with ad revenue, athlete sponsorships, and the ability to use Olympic footage in the future.[13]
In response to the chaos in Milano Cortina, there is a growing push for “pre-cleared” music libraries or centralized licensing hubs managed by the International Skating Union (ISU).[14] Adopting a centralized catalog, modeled after the licensing frameworks used by major digital content platforms, could mitigate last-minute disruptions that affected the 2026 Games.[15] However, until such a system becomes the industry standard, the burden remains on national federations to inspect every musical track against a global compliance checklist. This level of scrutiny is essential to ensure that a gold-medal performance is not overshadowed by a broadcast blackout or a copyright takedown notice upon digital distribution.
Because the Olympics involve content created, performed, and broadcast across many countries, no single national law governs all rights.[16] Instead, rights enforcement is guided by a combination of national copyright laws and international treaties, such as the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works and agreements administered by WIPO.[17] Under these frameworks, the country where the protection is claimed generally governs rights, but the country of origin and territorial licensing agreements also affect which rights must be cleared.[18] Broadcasters and rights holders must navigate territorial restrictions, moral rights, and reproduction permissions across multiple jurisdictions, meaning that a track cleared for one country might still trigger legal or licensing challenges in another.[19] This international patchwork amplifies the risk that music licensing problems can disrupt broadcasts or trigger takedowns, underscoring why centralized pre-clearing and global compliance are so crucial.[20]
The copyright licensing challenges at the Winter Olympics highlight a complex business nexus between athletes, broadcasters, music rights holders, and international sporting bodies.[21] Olympic organizers, national skating federations, and individual skaters all operate within overlapping commercial and legal frameworks: broadcasters need cleared music to monetize global television and streaming rights, record labels and publishers seek licensing fees and royalties for the use of their content, and athletes rely on carefully choreographed routines to secure sponsorships and public visibility.[22] Disruptions caused by last-minute licensing problems can ripple across these commercial relationships, affecting advertising contracts, broadcast schedules, and athlete endorsements.[23] In this sense, music licensing is not merely a legal technicality but an important business consideration that intersects with the financial, promotional, and reputational stakes of the Olympic enterprise.[24]
[1] Dan Daley, Copyright Issues Are a Crack in the Ice for Olympic Figure Skating, SVG (Feb. 18, 2026), https://www.sportsvideo.org/2026/02/18/copyright-issues-are-a-crack-in-the-ice-for-olympic-figure-skating/ [https://perma.cc/D6TN-YQ6L].
[2] See id.
[3] Dave Skretta, Russian Skater Petr Gumennik Becomes Latest Olympian to Change Music Due to Copyright Issues, Associated Press (Feb. 8, 2026, at 05:50 ET), https://www.espn.com/olympics/story/_/id/47867171/russian-figure-skater-changes-olympic-music-copyright [https://perma.cc/N85B-HCLK].
[4] See ‘Is that Usual Practice for the Olympics?’: Artist Says Figure Skater Used Music Without Permission, NBCChicago (Feb. 10, 2026, at 08:05 ET), https://www.nbcchicago.com/olympics/2026-milan-cortina/is-that-usual-practice-for-the-olympics-artist-says-figure-skater-used-music-without-permission/3889615/ [https://perma.cc/J7K9-PR72].
[5] See IOC Awards Exclusive 2026-2032 Olympic Games Media Rights in Europe to European Broadcasting Union and Warner Bros. Discovery, Warner Bros. Discovery (Jan. 16, 2023), https://www.wbd.com/ioc-awards-exclusive-2026-2032-olympic-games-media-rights-in-europe-to-european-broadcasting-union-and-warner-bros-discovery/ [https://perma.cc/R9FF-SWBP].
[6] See generally Tariq Panja, Figure Skaters Try to Master a New Routine: Copyright Compliance, N.Y. Times (Feb. 12, 2026), https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/world/europe/winter-olympics-figure-skating-music-copyright.html [https://perma.cc/Z9KN-YUQ5] (discussing the complexities in securing soundtrack licensing for Olympic events).
[7] See id.
[8] See Daley, supra note 1.
[9] Steve Brachmann, International Rule Changes, Complex Licensing Schemes Lead to Last-Minute Copyright Clearance Issues at 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics, IPWatchdog (Feb. 16, 2026, at 12:15 ET), https://ipwatchdog.com/2026/02/16/international-rule-changes-complex-licensing-schemes-lead-last-minute-copyright-clearance-issues-milan-cortina-2026/ [https://perma.cc/4LCH-QC54] (noting the various levels of clearance that athletes must secure before using an artist’s soundtrack).
[10] See, e.g., Denny Alfonso, Why Are Olympic Figure Skaters Having Issues with Their Music Selections?, The Athletic (Feb. 13, 2026), https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7034724/2026/02/10/olympics-figure-skating-music-copyright/ [https://perma.cc/KT4G-6Z68] (noting the potential complications that are associated with securing music licensing for live sporting events).
[11] See Erin Kayata, What is the Controversy With the Olympic Figure Skater Using a ‘Minions’ Medley, Ne. Glob. News (Feb. 9, 2026), https://news.northeastern.edu/2026/02/09/minions-figure-skater-music-olympics/ [https://perma.cc/HCQ9-EPHT].
[12] See Alfonso, supra note 10.
[13] See Reclaiming the Rings: Why Olympic Broadcasting Rights Need a Rethink, Ctr. for Commc’n Rts. (Aug. 6, 2024), https://ccrvoices.org/2024/08/06/reclaiming-the-rings-why-olympic-broadcasting-rights-need-a-rethink/ [https://perma.cc/3238-VFXK] (noting that sales of broadcasting rights account for over 60% of the International Olympic Committee’s revenue).
[14] See Universal Music and ClicknClear Sign Global Deal for Sports Routines, Reuters (Feb. 11, 2026, at 19:03 ET), https://www.reuters.com/sports/universal-music-clicknclear-sign-global-deal-sports-routines-2026-02-12/ [https://perma.cc/4WM5-YFV5].
[15] See id.
[16] Judith Sullivan, Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights, World Intell. Prop. Org. 1, 47 (2007), https://www.wipo.int/edocs/mdocs/copyright/en/sccr_15/sccr_15_7.pdf [https://perma.cc/XRR2-JKAP] (“Although there are a number of international treaties and conventions governing the framework for national copyright laws, the underlying premise is that copyright legislation is territorial in nature.”).
[17] See id.
[18] See Berne Convention 1979, art. 5, Sept. 9, 1886, 828 U.N.T.S. 221.
[19] See id.
[20] See, e.g., Alfonso, supra note 10.
[21] See Anne-Sophie Voumard, Broadcast and Digital Figures Show Fans Around the World Embracing Milano Cortina 2026 in Record Numbers, Int’l Olympic Comm. (Feb. 18, 2026), https://www.olympics.com/ioc/news/broadcast-and-digital-figures-show-fans-around-the-world-embracing-milano-cortina-2026-in-record-numbers [https://perma.cc/N4KR-TCWJ].
[22] See Brachmann, supra note 9; Jonathan Bailey, Why the Olympics Are a Copyright Disaster, PlagiarismToday (Feb. 12, 2026), https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2026/02/12/why-the-olympics-are-a-copyright-disaster/ [https://perma.cc/4Q52-WP2B].
[23] See Voumard, supra note 21.
[24] Id.
