Performers 'cheated over mobile phone jingle craze'
Mobile phone shops selling pop songs to customers wanting catchy ring tones are breaching copyright laws and cheating performers, artists' advocates warned yesterday.
The Composers and Authors Society of Hong Kong said many small shops were downloading songs on to handsets without paying a licence fee to be passed on to composers and musicians.
But Customs and Excise officials say they are powerless to stop shops, and copyright holders must take civil court action to recover any losses.
The society's senior corporate communications manager, Angelina Law Yuen-sai, said the extent of the problem was only just emerging.
'We didn't think it was a big problem, but people keep telling us a lot of shops are doing this,' she said.
While mobile networks such as Sunday and Cable & Wireless HKT pay licence fees on songs they offer as ring tones, small shops luring customers with a more up-to-date range of hits do not, Ms Law said.
'It's a small fee that we're charging. It's not really about the money, it's the principle,' she said.
Ms Law said firms using 'hold' music on phone systems without permission from the copyright holder were also breaking the law.
But she said it would be impossible for the society to track them all down to make them pay.
A spokeswoman for Cable & Wireless HKT, which does not charge its customers for using pop ring tones, said about 12,000 people a day were downloading tunes.
She said the small shops offering illegally downloaded tunes for $20 or $30 were probably attracting phone users who wanted songs not on major networks' hit lists, and those signed up to networks not offering such a service.
A Sunday spokeswoman, who said customers were charged for the air time they spent selecting a tune but not for changing their ring tone, said the service had been popular since its introduction a year ago.
She said songs with messages of dedication could be sent by phone users to their friends for $5 a time.
A Customs spokesman said the issue was technically different to that of CD pirates making illegal copies of songs, for which they can face criminal charges.
'This would have to be a civil case - the copyright owner would have to take civil action.' The Top Ten Butterfly no artiste A Cold Rain Karen Mok It's Your Mistake Kelly Chan Sayings to My Loved One Cecelia Cheung A Shocking Dream Aaron Kwok Fireworks for the Millennium Andy Hui The Wedding March no artiste Meditation music no artiste A Bird Falling Into Water no artiste Glory, Glory from Sunday's adverts Source: Sunday
