MUMBAI: The Chinese government has ordered a cleanup of the country’s online music market that will require music sites to seek approval from censors for all foreign songs they distribute on the Internet, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
The Ministry of Culture’s measure, which affects music services provided by companies including Google Inc. and Baidu Inc., is the latest effort by the government to try to assert control over the Internet, which has some 338 million users in China, more than in any other country, the report says.
In a statement on its Web site, the ministry said the measure is aimed at addressing problems such as “the intermingling of good and bad content” and “the large quantity of imported music without approval,” as well as copyright violations and a general “lack of supervision and regulation over market behavior.”
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Groups representing record labels said they hoped the move would lead to tougher action against piracy, which is rampant in China. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, which represents music companies, estimates that music sales in China totaled just $82 million last year and 99 per cent of the music accessed in China is unlicensed.
The Culture Ministry’s rule, issued late Thursday, sets up what could be an enormous bureaucratic task. It requires that all music from outside China, including Hong Kong and Taiwan, must be submitted to the ministry by the end of the year.
Online music distributors will be required to provide written lyrics for each song, translated into Chinese, and documents to prove they aren’t infringing on intellectual property rights, the ministry notice said. In addition, companies wishing to provide music download services will be required to apply for an Internet culture license to do so, the report says.
