The Vietnam Music Copyright Protection Centre collected 23.3 billion VND (1.1 million USD) in royalties last year for the composers and songwriters who have registered with it, up from 15 billion VND in 2008.

Its director, musician Pho Duc Phuong, said this year the amount would rise sharply since the centre planned a drive to collect royalties from hotels, karaoke parlours, night clubs, and other entertainment providers.

“Only 18 percent of royalties for writers and composers came from use on radio, television, and discs [because] we are facing difficulty in collecting from them because of a shortage of experienced professionals.”

One of the major problems, he said, is controlling the use of works by people who usually “ignore royalties”.

In its eight years of existence, the centre collected nearly 55 billion VND from Vietnam and abroad.

In 2008, it signed nearly 700 contracts with music producers and entertainment companies.

The country’s first organisation to protect songwriters and composers from copyright infringement has signed up 1,602 Vietnamese artists.

After became a member of the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers in 2007, Vietnamese composers are protected when their materials are performed or recorded abroad.

Foreign musical products are given the same protection in Vietnam .

Phan Mong Thuy, deputy director of the Phuong Nam Culture Company, one of HCM City ’s leading music producers, said copyright protection for music is still a new concept in Vietnam .

“We need the State’s help to enforce the rights of composers, songwriters, and users as stipulated in the Intellectual Property Law, effective since 2006,” she said./.