On April 28^th, original music writers, record companies and copyright industry called for a stronger copyright protection for the music industry on “2011 Beijing Music Copyright Protection & Industrial Development Forum and Signing Ceremony for Copyright Protection of Key Music Copyright Owners (First Batch)”. The forum was hosted by Beijing Municipal Bureau of Press and Publication (Copyright) and jointly organized by Music Copyright Society of China.

On the forum, Beijing Municipal Bureau of Press and Publication (Copyright) compiled and presented a list of key music copyright owners as the start to initiate new measures for copyright protection. Taihe Rye Music Co., Ltd., Dong Music International, EE-Media, Gao Xiaosong (a well known music producer) and other key music copyright owners signed contracts with Beijing Municipal Bureau of Press and Publication (Copyright). The contracts are designed to provide copyright contracts filing, copyright acknowledgement and other copyright based services.

“Most original music writers can not earn their own livings by writing music alone. It is fair to say that the reason why original music is at a low ebb is due to the pirated music posted on the Internet.” Zhang Yadong, a well-established music producer said.

Song Ke, CEO of Taihe Rye Music Co., Ltd., believed that copyright infringement cases that are raging the Internet have wrecked the living space of the music industry. Song Ke pointed out, since music can be downloaded from the Internet free of charge, music fans are no longer willing to buy genuine CDs. It is like to nail the jelly to the wall for the record companies to generate profits from record sales. But Song Ke believed that digital music is the future of the music industry and the rising horizon for a new round of profit generation.

“The development of the music industry is inseparable from copyright protection. But currently record companies have to face a series of obstacles in copyright protection, including the complicated right affirmation process, the difficulty to reach the infringer, the low cost of infringement and the high budget required by right protection.” Song Ke commented further.

Wu Jun, CEO of R2G, a music copyright agency, pointed out that a large number of websites took advantage of the Internet Safe Harbor Rule, claiming the infringing contents were uploaded by users and requiring the copyright owner to provide copyright ownership certification and other documents, which further complicate the right protection procedure.

The new copyright protection measure is expected to set up an “authorization based distribution” order for the music industry. Wang Yefei, Deputy Director General of Beijing Municipal Bureau of Press and Publication (Copyright) also advised the music industry to form an awareness of integrated entrustment and collective copyright protection.

(Source: China Press and Publishing Journal, translated by China IP)