Beijing’s KTV Wars

Another battle in the ongoing struggle to enforce music copyright regulations in major cities across China got underway yesterday as 100 of Beijing’s KTV establishments were threatened with a lawsuit by the China Audio-Video Copyright Association (CAVCA) for failing to pay royalties owed since Jan, 2007. At the end of 2006 the National Copyright Administration introduced new rules that required the owners of all KTV clubs to pay a copyright fee for the use of the music videos played in their venues. The new regulations were to be trialed in three of China's biggest cities, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Beijing. The new regulations became effective on Jan 1, 2007 and apply to all the KTV venues in Beijing. Despite the offer of a preferential rate for those who got in and paid their dues early, the vast majority of KTV places in all three of the trial cities have refused to hand over a single mao. On Monday, CAVCA announced that they intend to officially file a copyright infringement lawsuit against about 100 of the KTV clubs.

China Daily quote Wang Huapeng, executive vice-president of the association representing the interests of both international and domestic record companies, the China Audio-Video Copyright Association (CAVCA), as saying

Most of the suits were against medium and small KTV establishments. Last month, the association delivered an ultimatum to 300 Beijing KTV establishments, demanding payment of royalties by October 10. However, only 30 acknowledged receipt of the ultimatum, the others chose to ignore it.

Only about 10 of Beijing’s 1,500 KTV venues have paid the royalty fees which is currently set at RMB 11 per room, per day. Shanghai’s clubs have been a little more well-behaved with more than 100 of the city’s 1,400 KTV establishments handing over the dough.

Links and Sources
China Daily: Beijing KTVs face lawsuits for not paying royalty fees
The Beijing News: 百家KTV将被诉侵权
CRI: 北京数百家KTV可能将被诉侵权 被指拒绝交版权费 (image)
China.org.cn: Progress in KTV Battle as Operators Pay Royalties
China.org.cn: Beijing KTV Bars Face the Music (Apr, 2007)
China Daily: Battle lines drawn in KTV royalty fight (Mar, 2007)
China Daily: KTV operators chafe at royalties (Nov, 2006)