China’s copyright watchdog bans unlicensed music streaming

At the end of the month China’s copyright regulator will “seriously punish” domestic streaming services which provide unlicensed free music to users.

As part of anti-piracy campaignSword Net 2015, the National Copyright Administration (NCA) has given online domestic services until July 31 to remove all unlicensed music.

In a statement published on its website, Yu Cike, NCA head of copyright management said: "After the end of July, we will seriously punish those who do not remove unlicensed music. Websites and apps that commit copyright infringement will be fined. Runners of illegal websites and apps specialising in music piracy will be referred to judicial authorities if they violate the law. "

How effective Sword Net will be on China's music industry remains to be seen. However the NCA has said the campaign is in line with China's copyright law and regulations. As music fans in the territory have been infamously reluctant to pay for downloaded music, industry figures have said it will restore confidence in China’s copyright system.

According to government statistics published by theWall Street Journal there are more than 100 pirated music sites in the territoryand while 478 million people listen to music online, revenue generated from online music is miniscule.

According to the IFPI’sRecorded Industry In Numbers 2015report, 87% of music sales in China are from digital.While streaming revenue helped overall revenue increase by 5.6% in 2014 – through local services including e-commerce giant Alibaba, internet giant Tencent, and search provider Baidu – there are still hopes for the country to adopt paid streaming.

The new regulation could affect Alibaba’s Xiami Music and Tenecet's QQ Music, which offer free music.

Duan Yuping, an official with the NCA said, “virtually all online streaming service providers have committed copyright infringement in various degrees. They infringed the rights of royalty holders, disturbed the order of the online music market, and also impacted the development of our music industry.”

China news publication CRI has reported a final payment plan for streaming sites is said to be in the works.

Australia doesn’t have an administrative approach to unlicensed streaming that is similar to the regulation adopted by China. We do have two options to deal with digital copyright infringement however: a civil action where rights holders who have found their copyright to be infringed on local streaming services can apply for an injunction to stop the content from being used; and a criminal action, where if necessary, Federal police can launch an application for an injunction – the latter has never been done in Australia.

The forthcoming Copyright (Online Infringement) Bill 2015 contains a clause which allows rights holders to request a judge to block a limitless number of overseas websites in a single injunction.

For more information on local copyright laws see the Australian Copyright Council's information sheet:Infringement: Actions, Remedies, Offences & Penalties