Only joint efforts can better protect copyrights of online music sector

Chinese music websites including Baidu Player.[Photo provided to China?Daily]

China's top copyright regulator officially announced stricter rules on Wednesday for the streaming of music, urging online music service providers to remove all unlicensed products by the end of this month. Those who fail to abide by the regulation after the due date will face serious punishments. Comments:

The announcement of the National Copyright Administration has injected confidence and determination into the digital music market, and with the joint efforts of the relevant parties the market will become healthier and more benign. The administrative supervisors need to reinforce their management to guide the online music industry, the judicial organs should strengthen their enforcement, and service providers should be more self-disciplined in abiding by the law.

China Intellectual Property News, July 17

Charging for songs is the basic guarantee of a healthy music industry. However, governments have their administrative obligations to fulfill, and they should support all parties legally involved in the online music business.

Yu Cike, director of the copyright management department at China's National Copyright Administration, July 16

Given the increasing public attention to music copyright and major service providers' efforts to protect it, it is fair to say that the relationship between copyright protection and the Internet is becoming normal. In other words, China's online music service platforms will seek to purchase exclusively licensed products and fight copyright infringers at the same time.

Wang Yi, a publicity director at the Evergrande Music Co, July 17

The major reason that a few individuals defended their copyrights against rule-breaking music websites is online music's low value in use. Even when their disputes turned into litigation, the costs of bringing the cases outweighed the penalties that the defendants had to pay, discouraging more from continuing their fight to defend their copyrights. Tougher measures need to be taken to stop misconduct.

Liu Ping, deputy secretary-general of China's Music Industry Promotion Committee, July 20