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Digital Legal
IFPI welcomes shutdown of Chinese music links forum
By CMU Editorial | Published on Tuesday 12 June 2012
The International Federation Of The Phonographic Industry has welcomed raids by customs officials in the Chinese special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macua that have led to the closure of a unlicensed music forum called fdzone.org.
According to the record industry’s global trade body, the website had 900,000 users and had generated $1.5 million in profits from advertising and subscriptions, despite providing links to unlicensed music. The service was raided last week following a complaint by the IFPI, and according to reports four people linked to the website have been arrested, while servers, credit cards and cash were seized.
Commenting on the raids, Leong Mayseey, Regional Director for IFPI Asia, told CMU: “We are delighted that Macau and Hong Kong customs officials have acted promptly on our complaints and taken action to close this lucrative unlicensed business down. Copyright-infringing sites such as fdzone.org are a huge problem for legal music services in the region which offer consumers a great service while respecting artists and songwriters. Actions such as these are great help in boosting that legitimate business”.
