The standoff over royalty fees between karaoke bar operators in
Guangzhou and the China Audio and Video Association is heating up,
with the royalty-collecting body threatening to delete music at
bars that refuse to pay.
The association issued a bulletin in some local newspapers on
Monday saying that its Guangzhou liaison office would start
strictly collecting royalty fees. It also said karaoke bar owners
would have to pay fees dating back to January 1.
The authorities imposed a daily fee of 12 yuan ($1.5) for every
karaoke room at a bar at the beginning of the year. Bar owners
oppose the fee because they say it would be more reasonable to pay
royalties according to the number of songs played.
A staff member at the China Audio and Video Association's
Guangzhou liaison office who refused to be identified told
China Daily that the office would hold a conference this
week or early next month to brief local karaoke bar owners. It will
also explain fee procedures and send officials to each bar to check
the number of karaoke rooms before it works out the total fees each
karaoke bar should pay.
He said his office would offer a rate of 11.5 yuan ($1.47) per
room daily to operators who agreed to pay before May 20. The
standard 12 yuan fee will resume after May 20.
"We will delete the related pieces of music if any bar owners
refuse to pay," he said.
However, the owners of several karaoke bars said they would
continue their resistance to the fees.
Huang Shiqiu, president of the Guangzhou Cultural and
Entertainment Industry Association, which represents the leading
karaoke operators in Guangzhou, said his association would
negotiate with the Guangzhou liaison office of the China Audio and
Video Association.
"But we will insist on a reasonable system for paying royalty
fees and will not accept the standard of 12 yuan per room per day,
or a mere discount of 50 fen (6 cents)," Huang said.
According to the standard of 12 yuan per room per day, karaoke
operators in Guangzhou will have to hand over a combined 1.2
billion yuan ($147 million) every year.
"We will resort to litigation if disputes really crop up," he
added.
Song Qingxiang, an executive at Guangzhou Golden Times KTV, was
equally defiant.
"The Guangzhou Cultural and Entertainment Industry Association
has made it very clear that the daily fee of 12-yuan ($1.5) for
every karaoke room is unreasonable and that the collecting agent is
not legally authorized to do so," Song said. "Naturally, they can't
expect us to be cooperative on the issue."
The nationwide dispute over royalty fees has been dragged on for
about six months already. Guangzhou has become one of the
front-line battles because bar owners there have directly
challenged what they say are irrationally high fees and the
ambiguous legal status of the national collection agents.
The China Audio and Video Association has successfully collected
royalty fees in Yunnan and Hunan provinces, Chongqing Municipality
and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
(China Daily March 28, 2007)