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KTV operators have come out in opposition to the royalty fees imposed by the National
Copyright Administration (NCA) earlier this month.
On November 9, the NCA set a daily royalty of 12 yuan (US$1.5) per KTV
room in an effort to improve copyright protection. The fee is in effect in
Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou on a trial basis and is to be gradually
implemented in other cities.
However, KTV operators in Guangzhou and Shanghai say the fees are too
onerous. One sticking point is
that operators must pay the room-based fee regardless of whether any
customers actually use the rooms.
Zhu Nan, deputy secretary general of the Shanghai Entertainment
Industry Association, said a room-based rate of 1 yuan (US$0.12) per day
would be more feasible.
"KTV clubs in Shanghai would end up turning
over 7.3 million yuan (US$900,000) every year if they had
to pay a rate of 1 yuan (12 US cents) per day. That's already an awesome
amount money," said Zhu.
Huang Shiqiu, president of the Guangzhou Cultural and Recreational
Industry Association, said the fees should be levied according to the
number of songs played.
In response to such opposition, Wang Huapeng, leader of the China Audio
and Video Collective Management Association's organizational committee,
was quoted by Beijing Youth Daily as saying KTV operators can resist the
fees if they do not use protected material under the association's care.
The China Audio and Video Collective Management Association will
oversee collection of the fees once it receives official approval from the
government. In the meantime, the China Audio and Video Association has
been designated as the temporary agent to collect the royalties.
Meanwhile, Beijing's copyright authorities said they have been
collecting the fees according to plan.
"We worked with copyright holders and users to create a scheme for
different royalty standards for different types of KTV operations," said
Wang Yelin, vice-dean of the Beijing Copyright Association.
Wang said that in Beijing, 12 yuan (US$1.5) would be the maximum of
three levels of royalties. Rules governing the three standards will be
released at the end of the year.
Some operators calculated that KTV customers would probably have to pay
an extra 1.4 yuan (US$0.17) per hour to cover the fees.
The royalties will be paid to song-writers and music companies,
according to staff at the China Audio and Video Collective Management
Association. Many copyright holders say that 12 yuan (US$1.5) per day is
still too low.
(China Daily) | 
