CCTV hits wrong note with music industry
Station is accused of airing hundreds of songs without paying royalties
CCTV is one of the mainland's most flagrant music pirates, using hundreds of songs from artists in Taiwan, Hong Kong and elsewhere without paying royalties, industry figures say.
Industry executives estimate that the lost royalty payments could amount to hundreds of millions of yuan each year.
'[The total] would be enormous,' said Wayne Bickerton, chairman of performing rights organisation Sesac International in London, whose clients include Bob Dylan.
Songs from Taiwanese and Hong Kong artists were the most frequently used by the broadcaster, publishers said.
Payments for using songs on television and radio in Britain came to about US$180 million a year, while in the US the figure topped $500 million, Dr Bickerton said.
Music publishers have slowly been making inroads in convincing public institutions on the mainland to pay royalties for songs, which they are legally bound to do.
However, they have been reluctant to raise the issue with CCTV because of its tremendous size and influence.
'This is a new issue because broadcasting is seen as a public service in China,' said the head of one western music publishing company.
A spokesman for the Music Copyright Society of China said CCTV used a number of copyrighted songs from Hong Kong and Taiwan. 'We are negotiating with CCTV and the National Copyright Bureau. According to mainland law, CCTV should pay royalties,' he said.
Qin Mingxin, deputy-director of CCTV's international department, said the broadcaster paid royalties for foreign programming, which included some songs.
But he referred questions about imported audio products to a different official, who could not be reached.
According to its website, CCTV reaches 90 per cent of the population.
On the mainland, fees for using songs in advertisements range from US$5,000 to $10,000, while the cost of using music in television shows is from 150,000 yuan to 250,000 yuan.
In Taiwan, such fees are about US$800 per song, but the island's broadcasters generally write 80 per cent of their own music and buy the rest.
There is now some hope for songwriters waiting to tap into the market on the mainland.
The nation's first lawsuit over copyright infringement for background music began in Beijing this week with the Changan department store being charged with infringement by the Music Copyright Society of China.
So far, 23 department stores in Beijing, including Oriental Plaza, have paid fees to the society for licensed songs.
