Music Copyright Payment Law: Needs to be Strictly Implemented

(Baonghean) -Normally, the brainchildren of musicians after being "produced" and popularized to the public through tapes, discs, and performances will be paid royalties - copyright according to regulations. However, currently, the implementation of the law on payment of music copyright is still lax.

Musician Hoang Thanh

Although busy with many tasks at the Vietnam Folk Arts Association and the Branch President, the Vietnam Musicians Association in Nghe An, musician Hoang Thanh - the author of profound lyrical songs such as "Buong ao em ra", "Mau tim hoa sim", "Tieng flute kite tuoi tho", "Khuc lam toi va anh linh tan nguyen"... still takes time to sit at the piano and think about new songs. This is the second year he has retired after more than 40 years of working at the Military Region 4 Art Troupe, but that does not mean he has stopped composing, but on the contrary, he has more time to invest in music, especially when in his family, his two sons are also following their father's path of composing. As one of the famous musicians in Nghe An, many of whose songs have been recorded by many famous singers and performed at many music shows at home and abroad, musician Hoang Thanh is also very concerned about the issue of music copyright payments. In fact, this is a legitimate right and has been expressed through many State documents, including the Government's decree on the royalty regime, the Intellectual Property Law, the Civil Law and many directives of the Ministry of Culture - Information, the Ministry of Culture - Sports and Tourism. He himself, since the Vietnam Center for Music Copyright Protection began operating, has also been paid royalties. Specifically, once a quarter, the Center will directly send money through his account. The amount corresponds to the times the song is used.

However, according to him, the amount of a few million VND that he receives each time is too little, because mainly only Vietnam Television, Voice of Vietnam and some TV stations in the southern provinces pay. The rest, there are many other programs that use his songs but have not paid copyright through the Copyright Protection Center, including many programs staged in the province. He said: A musician who has many songs that are known and accepted by the public is lucky. But a musical product is also the crystallization of intelligence and effort, so if the users of the songs know how to respect the musician and comply with the State's regulations on copyright payment, the musician will have more motivation to work.

In fact, at the Vietnam Musicians Association in Nghe An, there are still many musicians living in difficult circumstances, of which only a few are lucky enough to have salaries, the rest live off staging art performances. Currently, only a few musicians are paid royalties every year, while most do not know about this amount. Even musician Le Ham, author of famous songs such as Vinh - City of Dawn, Love a Lot of Countryside, Love Why the Highland Teacher, only knows that once a quarter the Copyright Center transfers a few million VND into his account, called "royalties", but he is clueless about which programs that money comes from and who pays it. And the composer Nguyen Van Don, the composer of songs such as Tham Bua Night Festival, Night Ferry, and The Sound of the Gong Calling Friends, shared very honestly: “Up to now, I have only been paid the copyright fee once in 2011. Since then, I have not been paid any more…”. On this occasion of the New Year, a famous song of his, “Rầm xuân nhớ Bác” (Full Moon Remembering Uncle Ho), was also played many times on the radio, especially on the Party’s Founding Day, February 3rd, but for him: “Being played is fun, but I don’t think about being paid the copyright fee because that seems so far away…”.

According to Section 8, Article 28 of the Law on Intellectual Property, using a work without permission from the copyright owner, without paying royalties, remuneration, or other material benefits as prescribed by law is an act of copyright infringement. However, for many different reasons, copyright infringement is still quite common at different levels, especially in the fields of music, literature, computer programs, audio recordings, video recordings, broadcasting programs, and digital technology. The main reason is still due to the awareness, understanding, and especially the sense of law compliance of some organizations and individuals who exploit and use it, which is still limited and not serious, and the system of enforcement of copyright and related rights of authorities at all levels has not met the protection requirements as prescribed by law.

In our province, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism is the unit responsible for inspecting the enforcement of the law on copyright and related rights in production, business and service activities, but this issue has not been given attention for a long time. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has also issued a document on strengthening the management and enforcement of copyright and related rights protection to its affiliated units, requiring theaters, art troupes, film studios, producers, press agencies, music and stage music tape and disc production companies, music venues, performance and event organizers, hotels, tourist areas, karaoke services in the Culture, Sports and Tourism sector to seriously and exemplaryly fulfill their legal obligations when using works, performances, audio and video recordings, and broadcast programs. However, the management and inspection have not been closely monitored.

That leads to the situation where the performances and producers still freely perform the works of the musicians while "ignoring" their responsibilities and not caring about copyright protection. As for the Vietnam Musicians Association in Nghe An, this issue has not been paid attention to for a long time, even though it is to protect the rights of its members. Therefore, there is still a situation where "everyone registers for themselves" but the members do not know how much they get, which unit pays. Or there is no specific guidance for them to "claim" their rights.

Also related to the payment of copyright, the Vietnam Center for Music Copyright Protection has recently opened a representative office in Nghe An. Initially, the center has organized training and implemented the collection of copyright fees at karaoke businesses. Accordingly, depending on the scale, location and number of operating rooms, the establishments will have to pay copyright fees for music at a rate of 880,000 VND/room/year to 1,320,000 VND/year. The Inspectorate of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism will also coordinate to inspect karaoke businesses when they come to register and apply for operating licenses. Ms. Nguyen Thuy Dung, representative of the Copyright Center in Nghe An, said: In the coming time, after the center is in stable operation, the fee collection will also be expanded to other fields such as television, music programs, etc. Hopefully, this will also be a good sign for the musicians of the province during this New Year and an indirect way for users to appreciate the talent and contributions of the musicians.

My Ha