SINGERS - COMPOSERS INTERVIEWED ON MUSICAL COPYRIGHT ISSUES IN VIETNAM

The steering board of CVSEAS had an interview with Prof. Koji Domon and Prof. Makamura Kiyoshi from Waseda University (Japan) together with invited guests, who are singers and composers, about the issue of musical copyright in Vietnam. 

On Friday January 25th, 2008, the steering board of Center for Vietnamese and Southeast Asian Studies had an interview with Prof. Koji Domon and Prof. Makamura Kiyoshi from Waseda University (Japan) together with invited guests, who are singers and composers, about the issue of musical copyright in Vietnam. 

Among those who attended the interview, there were saxophonist Tran Manh Tuan, singer Hien Thuc, composer Quynh Hop, composer Ha Quang Minh, and journalist Le Hoang. The questions were mainly about the disk piracy in the entertainment industry and feasible solutions for limiting this disk piracy. One day before, the research group also had an interview with composer Quoc Bao and some CD shops’ owners within Ho Chi Minh City.

In  this investigation into the disk piracy, composer stated that nowadays, Vietnam had been being considered a “paradise for pirate disks”, as a favorite disk could only be released in the ratio of 1;10 in comparison with the “heyday” of disk and cassette market in 1997. Singer Hien Thuc told that she was offended when seeing her disks – released with her dedication – appearing in the market only within a short period after the release of master disks. Those pirate disks, obviously, were with worse quality. Moreover, there is another fact that some several young singers, who are still not famous, deliberately use pirate disks as an instrument for achieving their fame.

On discussing the solutions to the disk piracy, the participants stated that apart from stimulating activities of governmental managing organizations such as Recording Industry Association of Vietnam and establishing corporations managed artists, the central issue is to build the awareness of respecting copyright protections among the community and even among the artists. As for the future, almost every guests agreed that as living standards were raised, the public will gradually switch to the consumption of master disks.

Moreover, in response to journalist Le Hoang’s questions about his own opinions on the disk piracy in Vietnam, Prof. Koji Domon said that, in contrast to Japan, Vietnam appeared to have been promoting public interest rather than producers’ one, and that the issue of copyright needed to achieve the necessary balance between interests of the producers and the public. Prof. Koji Domon also said that there hardly exists in Japan any disk piracy thanks to the fact that the government has imposed severe sanctions against disk piracy. The act of trading pirate disk, for example, may lead to prosecution. In addition, the musical circles need to establish their own corporations in order to safeguard their interests. Nevertheless, Japan, at the moment, is still confronting the problem of downloading music illegally with file sharing programs among 20% of the youth.

More reference on the interview on Tuoi Tre Newspaper: http://www.tuoitre.com.vn/Tianyon/Index.aspx?ArticleID=240831&ChannelID=10

Source: http://www.hcmussh.edu.vn/USSH/NewsEventAnnouncement/ViewNewsEvent.aspx?p0=0&p1=1399&p2=3&p4=1877&p7=&p8=0

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