China strengthens music copyright protection

"China has vowed to better protect the music industry by ending the free online musicsharing and downloading era," said Yan Xiaohong, deputy director of China's NationalCopyright Administration (NCAC) on April 19.

Chinese Internet users have long been fond of downloading the latest chart-topping songsfrom music websites or online portals, as most sites offer the tunes for free.

Therefore, most people have yet to develop the habit of paying for what they listen to and themusic websites are used to illegally uploading music without permission.

In tackling the issue, the administration has issued the Notice for the Online Music Providerson the Shutdown of Unauthorized Music Distribution Service on June 8 last year.

A total of 16 music websites or apps have acted in strict accordance with the notice with over2.2 million illegal songs have been pulled out from the music websites within two months.

For instance, Baidu MP3, a music sharing platform, has taken down a number of over642,000 tracks after the copyright clean-up.

Meanwhile, Yan also suggested that Chinese songwriters, composers and singers shoulddefend their rights by asking for payment from online music websites. All in all, whethermusic workers get payment or not was an essential standard for evaluating the copyrightprotection issue in China.

Compared with the big challenge in the music circle, the video clean-up activity has madeenormous strides.

According to Yan, the proportion of authorized videos online has been high in the lastdecade.

"On the one hand, the administration has launched a nationwide crackdown on videomaterial infringement by punishing acts violating laws and regulations in the field. On theother, many online video providers have gained momentum in business by acting accordingto the law," Yan added.

"At present, China is still a beginner in the intellectual property rights (IPR) field. Manyproblems and controversies will arise in the field in the future, online contents' copyrightprotection work is no exception," Yan summarized.

(CHINADAILY)