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Digital
Chinese online music body launches
By CMU Editorial | Published on Friday 10 June 2011
An association of internet music operators and providers has been launched in China, the country’s government announced yesterday.
About 20 companies have joined the Internet Music Industry Development Consortium, all of whom have signed up to a protocol that encourages “the lawful production of music content and an increase of indigenous music products”. It is also hoped the association can also offer guidance on “intra-industry competition and dispute settlement”.
Among the companies signed up to the new body are Chinese music firms China Record Corporation and Ocean Butterflies Music Co, web firms like Tencent, Sina and Baidu, and tel cos China Mobile and China Telecom. It is not clear if there are any ambitions to include international music firms in the new body.
Both online and more traditional piracy has been rampant in China for years, of course, and Baidu in particular was criticised by Western music companies for aiding Chinese web users looking for illegal music content. But even they have started courting content owners of late with ambitions to launch a licensed music service, possibly following moves by the Chinese government to crack down on companies assisting in online piracy.
