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

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

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

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

Inits eight years of existence, the centre collected nearly 55 billion VND fromVietnam and abroad.

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

The country’s first organisationto protect songwriters and composers from copyright infringement has signed up1,602 Vietnamese artists.

After became a member of the InternationalConfederation of Societies of Authors and Composers in 2007, Vietnamesecomposers are protected when their materials are performed or recordedabroad.

Foreign musical products are given the same protection in Vietnam.

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

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