Vietna
m’s biggest music web sites will begin charging users to download songs, signaling progress in intellectual property protection in a country with one of Southeast Asia ‘s highest piracy rates for digital content. Six sites that serve an estimated 23 million users, or about a quarter of the population, will charge 1,000 dong (5cents) per song starting Nov. 1, according to Hanoi-based MV Corp. The fees will initially apply to about half of all Vietnamese recordings, and talks are underway with Sony Corp. and Universal Music Group Inc. to make more music available for download, according to MV Corp and one of the website operators.
“Changing the mindset of twenty-something million people does not happen overnight,” Phung Tien Cong, deputy general director of MV Corp , which helps the Recording Industry Association of Vietnam manage recording rights online, said yesterday in an interview. “As long as we ensure good quality and services, people will pay.”
The successful implementation of the agreement would be welcomed by foreign investors in a market where the flouting of intellectual-property laws is seen as a barrier to trade development, said Adam Sitkoff, executive director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam.
Globally, an estimated 95 percent of music downloads are unlicensed and illegal, according to Alex Jacob, a London-based spokesman for the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.
NCT Corp ., which says it has a 35 percent share of Vietnam’s online music market with 2 million daily users, is negotiating with Sony (6758) Music and Universal to secure download-rights for international artists, said Nguyen Minh Kha, the company’s vice president. NCT already has agreements with Sony and Universal to stream songs on its website, Kha said. The company plans to reach an agreement on downloads this year and start charging for international music in early 2013.
Sean Yoneda, a Sony spokesman based in Tokyo , referred questions to the company’s New York offices and representatives there weren’t immediately available to comment. Universal representatives weren’t immediately available.
“Foreign songs will be a very complicated issue,” said Nguyen Thanh Son, marketing manager of 24h Online Advertising Joint-Stock Co., which operates the Nhac Vui music website. The company would need to reach agreements with other locally-run websites before it could impose fees on international music downloads, Son said.
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