Hotels liable for music copyright payments

Director of the Copyright Office of Vietnam, Bui Nguyen Hung and Pho Duc Phuong, head of the VCPMC (right to left)

Many hotel owners have voiced their opposition to the fees, saying they have already paid through their TV licensing deals.

The owners said the general yearly fees applied for reception areas were unreasonable as the fees must be collected based on how frequently the songs are played. The demand to collect VND25,000 per room per year is even more absurd.

Pham Viet Cuong, representative of a hotel in Danang City said, "We already pay to use services from TV stations. Our guests turn on the TV and watch whatever is available. We don't agree with these fees," he said.

Meanwhile, Pho Duc Phuong, head of the VCPMC, said there were many TVs in the hotels and lots of programmes and songs were seen there so it's natural to collect copyright fees from the hotels. Phuong said they had collected copyright fees from the hotels in Danang City for over three years and 10 years in Hanoi and HCM City.

"Individuals or organisations that use music to do business must pay fees," he said. "Other hotels in Danang must research the laws more clearly before making a fuss like that."

Nguyen Hoang Giang, head of the VCPMC in the north, said the artists had rights to perform, copy, control and distribute their works. The TV stations pay for the distribution rights.

"It's like collecting fees to use music on planes. The airlines were also upset 10 years ago but after being explained to, they have accepted the fees. We have collected fees from hotels for 10 years but mostly from four and five-star hotels. Now smaller hotels must also pay the fees," Giang said.

There are many people showing concern about how such fees are used. According to the VCPMC, they collected a total just VND3bn (USD132,000) from hotels and restaurants in the south last year. But Pho Duc Phuong said the revenue earned from TVs in hotels was minimal as most of the copyright fees were from live shows and background music in bars and restaurants.

Nguyen Hoang Giang then said that the pay to the original authors wasn't very accurate as it's difficult to know how many songs have been used and how many times they are played. Moreover, they will only collect fees from songs of artists who have given the VCPMC the authorisation.

Director of the Copyright Office of Vietnam, Bui Nguyen Hung, said the fees were in accordance with the law on intellectual properties and international conventions. But how and how much should be collected are another matter. Hung went on to say the prices must be flexible as different areas want different prices.

Tran Anh Dung from Hanoi Bar Association approved of the fees. "It's difficult to clarify how many of the songs on TVs will be seen and the amount of music time is not much. This is a civic dispute," he said.