Others News
- Controversial royalty fees postponed
Date: 3-Jan-2007 Sources: (Shenzhen Daily)
WIDELY disputed music video royalty fees which were to have come into effect in the city's karaoke clubs Jan. 1 have been postponed due to questions about the validity of the fee-levying authority.
Major karaoke chain stores including California Red and Uni-phone told the Shenzhen Daily yesterday that their tariffs remained unchanged and denied there was extra payment for copyright fees.
Last month, the country's musical intellectual property rights protection organization, China Audio-Video Collective Administration (CAVCA), announced karaoke bars would pay a daily royalty fee of 12 yuan (US$1.5) on each of their KTV booths, to pay for the copyright of the music and videos they use.
Zhang Xiaoshen, secretary general of Luohu District's song, dance and entertainment association, said the CAVCA cannot levy fees from the local entertainment industry unless it has finished the process of business registration and obtained approval from the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
The National Copyright Administration (NCA) gave the CAVCA in July a green light to charge the fees, before it was approved by the civil affairs authorities and received necessary licenses.
'The city's entertainment industry will not pay a penny to the organization unless it is recognized by the national watchdog,'Zhang said.
More than 100 karaoke clubs in Luohu District that joined the district association have also refused to pay the copyright fees.
'The copyright fee of 12 yuan per private room a day is too expensive,'said a sales manager surnamed Chen from a karaoke club in the district. 'Karaoke bar operators should be allowed to negotiate with copyright owners directly to set the price of the fee.'
He said a fee of 1 yuan per room per day would be a reasonable charge.
Most Shenzhen karaoke operators now pay 0.072 yuan per square meter in royalty fees to the Music Copyright Society of China. That works out at about 1.4 yuan a day per room.
The NCA in August required karaoke clubs to fork out a daily copyright fee of 12 yuan on each of their KTV booths.
Under the NCA's auspice, the CAVCA, a nongovernmental managing body of the country's audio and video trade, will collect the copyright fees from karaoke clubs and then pass the fees on to the copyright owners.
The NCA has said that the new policy will be trialed in some developed regions before it is implemented across the country. However, the authority refused to reveal whether Shenzhen is on the trial list.
The association announced last month that the fees would be levied from karaoke operators from January, although the policy has met with strong opposition nationwide.
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