Draft copyright law enrages China's music industry

Chinese songwriters are enraged over a draft amendment to the copyright law as they believe it would diminish their professional rights if passed.

The National Copyright Administration published the draft amendment at its website on March 31 to seek public feedback.

Article 46 of the draft stipulates that sound recording producers may use a music work from another record product, which has already been published for more than three months, in their own records without having to obtain the consent from the music copyright holder, as long as they report to relevant government authorities and pay fair compensation.

Moreover, the draft provides that if the copyright holder does not state otherwise, the royalty for such use will be collected through copyright collective management organizations.

"The draft is a possible deprivation of songwriters' copyright interests as well as our rights to dispose our own properties," Gao Xiaosong, a famous songwriter, wrote on Sina Weibo, a popular Chinese microblogging site on Wednesday.

Gao also posted online a petition signed by more than 20 popular songwriters and singers, including Xiao Ke, Zhang Chu, Han Geng and Sandee Chan, urging authorities to revise relevant provisions in the draft.