James Delahunty
5 Sep 2009 23:37
China has implemented more rules and restrictions for online music stores in the country. The changes apply to foreign-sourced tracks. The Chinese government will have to approve each song that originates from outside the country before any of the online music stores sell them. This affects all the big Internet companies with presence in China, including Google, Alibaba (Yahoo) and Baidu.
The Ministry of Culture said that the changes would help to weed out bad content and increase regulation on the market. Providers of music services in the country will have to provide the Ministry of Culture with lyrics of all foreign songs, translated to Chinese.
In addition, they will also have to provide evidence that they have the permission of the rights' holders to sell and distribute the songs in the country. This new change will upset the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) and other music trade bodies, particularly since the World Trade Organization recently sided with the United States in a complaint made in 2007 against China over the its system for the import of American media products including music, movies, magazines, books and other products.
The WTO ruling has ordered the Chinese government to ease up on the limitations on foreign films, music and print, but it did not make any ruling on Chinese censorship.