China clamps down on music piracy

By siliconindia   |   Monday, 07 September 2009, 14:52 IST   |    1 Comments
Printer Print Email Email
China clamps down on music piracy
Bangalore: China's Ministry of Culture (MoC) has implemented a new set of rules governing the country's online music market. Music sites will have to seek approval from the Chinese government for all foreign songs distributed on the Internet, reports Wall Street Journal. Big Internet companies including Google, Baidu and Alibaba (represents Yahoo brand in China) will have to comply with the new rules. The government said that search engines can only provide search information for tracks from legitimate music companies. According to the report, the MoC is requiring that companies providing online music streams or downloads gain approval as "Internet culture companies" and only companies that have directly obtained broadcasting or licensing rights can apply for approval. Imported music that is already broadcast online in China but has not been approved must be submitted to the MoC before December 31, 2009. This can be seen as yet another move by the Chinese government to control the Internet space in the country. The MoC said in statement that the new rules are necessary to remove 'bad content' as well as to establish more supervision and regulation over the market.