Gov't bodies doubted in struggle for karaoke monopoly
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-08-04 12:51
Two Chinese governmental departments have planned to charge for nationwide
karaoke system separately, causing disputes about whether they are struggling to
monopolize the market.
The National Copyright Administration (NCA) announced July 20 it will
publicize its own tariff for karaoke copyrights soon after the Ministry of
Culture said July 18 it will create a unified karaoke system nationwide and
charge the karaoke bar operators for each song downloaded.
Both claimed to protect the copyright holders' rights, but the charge
standards will be different.
The administration stated that bar operators should pay on the basis of the
number of parlors they own, while the ministry asked the operators to pay
according to the times a song is ordered, said Wang Huapeng, spokesman for the
China Audio-Video Collective Management Association, one of the NCA's executor.
Insiders claim the divided charges-to-be reflects a scramble between the two
departments for possible economic interest.
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