China Bans Most Exclusive Copyright Deals for Digital Music Platforms

China’s copyright authority mentioned on Thursday digital music platforms should not allowed to signal unique copyright agreements besides in particular circumstances, amid a regulatory crackdown on monopolistic behaviour within the nation’s personal sector.

The National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC) gave the order on Thursday at a gathering in Beijing with influential digital music platforms, in addition to report and songwriting copyright firms, based on a press release printed on the NCAC’s official WeChat account.

The order comes amid a widening crackdown by Chinese regulators on the nation’s expertise sector, which has targeted on points similar to monopolistic behaviour, unfair competitors and client rights.

Last yr, Tencent Holdings introduced it had ended all unique music copyright agreements after it was ordered by China’s market regulator to take action. The regulator had mentioned the agency held greater than 80 % of unique music library sources which elevated its leverage over upstream copyright events and allowed it to limit new entrants.

The NCAC didn’t point out which firms had been known as in on Thursday. Besides Tencent, smartphone maker Xiaomi, telecommunications supplier China Mobile, and Internet tech big Netease all personal widespread streaming providers in China. Globally widespread streaming providers like Spotify are banned in mainland China.

The NCAC mentioned that whereas copyright practices had improved since 2015, when the authority banned unlicensed music streaming and ordered platforms to take away thousands and thousands of songs, the trade nonetheless wanted to be additional standardised.

“The talks emphasised that record companies, songwriting copyright companies and digital music platforms should … settle payment according to a guaranteed sum plus a share of actual usage, and should not sign exclusive copyright agreements except under special circumstances,” it mentioned.

© Thomson Reuters 2022