London-listed Music Copyright Solutions has set up an Asian subsidiary (pdf) to acquire, manage and administer ownership of music in China.
The company has formed a JV with HK-based media firm Creative Works and hopes to begin buying copyrights to music that they can then licence to performers overseas or to TV shows, movies, computer games or ringtones.
MSC, which handles the copyright for western artists like pop star Fatboy Slim and oldies like Ray Charles and Tom Jones, wants to buy the catalogues or cut deals with Asian composers and sell their music around the world.
The timing is somewhat unfortunate, coming just a week after EU trade commisioner Peter Mandelson, on a visit to China, singled out the country's continuing IPR abuses of intangibles like television and music rights.
The failure by Chinese karaoke bars to pay royalties on European music is costing rights holders about €14m a year, according to Mandelson -- see earlier EngagingChina story for more.
Nevertheless, MCS chief executive Brian Scholfield believes that China, pushed by the Olympics and international pressure, is "on the verge of huge improvements to its copyright environment," according to XFN-Asia.
MCS says the increasing enforceability of Asian IPRs offers business opportunities which have yet to be explored.
Roughly five years after China's accession to the WTO, there are signs that its major trading partners are prepared to take a tougher stance toward Beijing on IPR protection.
According to the -- admittedly self-interested -- calculations by member associations of the International Intellectual Property Alliance, the US record and music industry lost $204m due to Chinese piracy in 2004. The figures for other industries are even higher -- see this Asia Media News story for more.
