20karaokebarsbegintopayroyalties

From: Shenzhen Daily

Updated: 2007-05-22 00:05

NEARLY 20 Shenzhen karaoke operators Sunday began paying copyright royalty fees for the use of music and videos in karaoke bars, the China Audio & Video Association (CAVA) and China Copyright Society of Works of Music (CCSWM) announced.

The two organizations, which have been given the task of collecting royalties by the National Copyright Administration (NCA), made the announcement at a ceremony in Shenzhen on Sunday afternoon to laud karaoke operators prepared to pay the fees.

Nearly 100 recording companies, including China Record Corp., EMI and Warner Music Corp., have authorized the CAVA to protect their copyrights, Lu Wenju with the CAVA said.

Karaoke operators are required to pay a daily charge of 12 yuan (US$1.56) for each karaoke room — less in underdeveloped regions — as stated in an NCA notice issued in November.

However, the introduction of the fee sparked much criticism last year, with karaoke operators complaining the fee was too high and song composers arguing for further increase.

The NCA said the fee, which amounted to 0.17 yuan per song on average, accounted for only 1 percent of a karaoke bar’s turnover according to their investigations in a couple of cities, and was relatively low when compared with that in many other countries.

Consumers" worries over a hike in karaoke fees were partly dispelled by the NCA declaration which said bargoers were not responsible for copyright royalties.

Karaoke operators in China have enjoyed free access to songs and music videos for more than 20 years.

But regular accusations of copyright infringement by record companies in China and abroad finally pushed the country to act.