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Friday, 11 September 2009
New rules for online music in China
China has announced that all songs posted on music websites must receive prior approval and foreign lyrics must be translated into Chinese, in a new push to control online content.
BEIJING: China has announced that all songs posted on music websites must receive prior approval and foreign lyrics must be translated into Chinese, in a new push to control online content.
The culture ministry said the new rules are designed to step up regulation of the Internet, curb rampant piracy and protect intellectual property rights, but experts believed the rules will be difficult to implement.
‘If there are thousands of websites that provide content, how can a single government check all of the content in just a few months?’ said analyst Liu Ning of Beijing-based high-tech consultancy BDA.
The official Global Times reported yesterday that music providers would have to submit songs for approval by Dec 31 - the date when the new rules are to go into effect. Music providers would also have to translate the lyrics of foreign songs into Chinese, the report said.
The ministry said in a statement that the rules were necessary to regulate the transmission of cultural information, guarantee the safety of the nation’s culture, and regulate public ethics.
It noted that information which violated public morality, or spread pornography and violence, continually appeared online, damaging the healthy development of China’s online cultural market.
China’s government regularly blocks online content it deems unhealthy, which includes pornography and violence but also information critical of the government, a censorship system dubbed the ‘Great Firewall of China’.
Analyst Liu said the latest rules were an extension of requirements already in place for the offline music industry, which has to submit foreign albums to the government for approval. The same applies for foreign films.
‘In recent years, the Chinese government has put more effort into online content censorship as some emerging applications like video sharing are getting more and more popular with Internet users,’ he said.
China has at least 338 million Internet users, more than any other country in the world.
According to the ministry’s guidelines, the rules also aim to strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights and increase the market share of legal businesses and music products.
Online music providers will be required to get a special licence from the culture ministry.
A ministry spokesman told the Global Times that there would be a three-day ‘fast-track’ system to gain permission to upload songs to the websites.
He also said content generated by Internet users - including songs composed, recorded or uploaded by individuals - would not have to go through the censorship process.
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry says up to 99 per cent of all music downloads in China are illegal, costing record companies billions in lost revenue annually.
1 comment:
New rules for online music in China
AFP
11 September 2009
BEIJING: China has announced that all songs posted on music websites must receive prior approval and foreign lyrics must be translated into Chinese, in a new push to control online content.
The culture ministry said the new rules are designed to step up regulation of the Internet, curb rampant piracy and protect intellectual property rights, but experts believed the rules will be difficult to implement.
‘If there are thousands of websites that provide content, how can a single government check all of the content in just a few months?’ said analyst Liu Ning of Beijing-based high-tech consultancy BDA.
The official Global Times reported yesterday that music providers would have to submit songs for approval by Dec 31 - the date when the new rules are to go into effect. Music providers would also have to translate the lyrics of foreign songs into Chinese, the report said.
The ministry said in a statement that the rules were necessary to regulate the transmission of cultural information, guarantee the safety of the nation’s culture, and regulate public ethics.
It noted that information which violated public morality, or spread pornography and violence, continually appeared online, damaging the healthy development of China’s online cultural market.
China’s government regularly blocks online content it deems unhealthy, which includes pornography and violence but also information critical of the government, a censorship system dubbed the ‘Great Firewall of China’.
Analyst Liu said the latest rules were an extension of requirements already in place for the offline music industry, which has to submit foreign albums to the government for approval. The same applies for foreign films.
‘In recent years, the Chinese government has put more effort into online content censorship as some emerging applications like video sharing are getting more and more popular with Internet users,’ he said.
China has at least 338 million Internet users, more than any other country in the world.
According to the ministry’s guidelines, the rules also aim to strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights and increase the market share of legal businesses and music products.
Online music providers will be required to get a special licence from the culture ministry.
A ministry spokesman told the Global Times that there would be a three-day ‘fast-track’ system to gain permission to upload songs to the websites.
He also said content generated by Internet users - including songs composed, recorded or uploaded by individuals - would not have to go through the censorship process.
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry says up to 99 per cent of all music downloads in China are illegal, costing record companies billions in lost revenue annually.
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