News: Draft Revision of Article 46 Causes Grief to Anson Hu and Songwriters in China

April 8th, 2012 - My dear friends, if this Article 46 is in place, there goes your good Chinese Music!

The recent changes to the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China has put many Chinese songwriters, singer-songwriters, and music creators into grief. Anson Hu has stood out as one of the major opposers to this new copyright law revision, as their creations can be legally used without permission of the owner in 3 months. If this law is succeeds, is there even a value for singer-songwriters anymore? What is going to happen to all the good, original Chinese music? Does this mean that all the songs are going to sound similar to each other because there is no proper law to protect originals?









This is the post that has been floating around in Weibo about the revisions of Article 46 of the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China (draft revision). It states: 

Sound recordings published after 3 months, other producers can act in accordance with the conditions laid down in Article 48, to use recordings in music production without the permission of the copyrighted.






Then on Sina's New Report (April 8th, 2012) - Many artists appeared at the 19th ERC (East Radio Company) Music Awards 2012 in hopes to protect the interests of the songwriters. The MCSC (Music Copyright Society of China) Director Genearl Liu Ping responded in an interview on CCTV, "The proposed changes in the Article are precisely in order to safeguard the rights of copyright holders..........this is not to limit the rights of music copyright holders, but this is the interest of the majority of the creators, to prevent the monopolization of the music record companies, and such changes are consistent with international practice."



Anson Hu wrote a detailed message on his in response to Sina's News Report (April 8th, 2012 12:19):

In songwriters perspective, their work is their biggest wealth as it is a part of their assets, and no one has the qualifications to use it without their permission. Ever since the draft revisions of the Copyright Law of The People's Republic of China came out, their work has lost value. Who is still willing to do work that has no value?? As the revision states, after 3 months, anyone can change the music in their favour and can earn money from it. The statement: monopolization of record companies, is utterly funny. The music industry never had monopolization problems. Record companies, in principle, spend money to purchase songwriter's creation. Music Copyright Society of China does not have to spend money at all. Under normal conditions, record companies pay copyright fees for their songwriters, and then according to the physical and wireless demand of the song, the record company will receive divided income. As long as there are people who like and listen to the songwriter's work, they will receive income from copyright fees (the money isn't that much anyway), and record companies have the recording rights. If anyone wants to do a new recording, also known as a new cover, new adaptation, or usage on another website, etc, they would have to request permission from the original songwriter.

At lot of songwriters say nice things because they believe that they are receiving approval if people use their work. Songwriters should receive their deserved respect: if you use their work, you should let them know. Of course, they do have right to refute you since it is their work. They can grant you approval, and if they don't, you can't do much about it. With the new Article, it is has become legitimate to steal! This has become unacceptable. As for talking about matching international standards, most people know that protection for songwriters outside of China are very good. As long as songwriters publically announce their work, they will receive money. They won't have to worry about their life issues and can focus on their creations. The songwriters around us don't necessary write music they enjoy, but just to sustain their life. The musical industry is already like this in Mainland china and now they add this new article. Even if they wanted to change the musical scene in China, they shouldn't attack the songwriters, but instead, those companies that use music to make money. Didn't the Copyright Society of China want to make money: if you can help songwriters charge for copyright fees, you can make your divided amount, and songwriters will all run to you. Instead, they decided to change the legal rights, and steal the rights of songwriters!

Isn't this forcing the songwriters to sell their creations internationally? We will give our songwriter rights to the countries outside of China! From this, how many people can you keep? What is this culture?

Why don't I just open up my own songwriter's creations agency.....especially for internationals! What do you think????




Source: http://www.weibo.com/huyanbin / http://ent.sina.com.cn/c/2012-04-08/05333599567.shtml

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