The Asia-Pacific Music Collective Management Association (ACMA) has updated its licensing rates for karaoke machines used at KTVs, which would increase the payments for operators.
Licensing fees for for-profit karaoke machines at restaurants would increase to NT$1,000 (US$30.51), those for public entertainment, such as community classes, are to rise to NT$700, while they are to be NT$350 for activity centers.
Holiday Entertainment has about 1,900 karaoke rooms nationwide, so it faces an additional NT$5 million in licensing fees under the new rates, which were announced in December last year.
Photo: Chiu-Shao-wen, Taipei Times
The changes have been met with discontent from KTV operators such as Holiday Entertainment and Cashbox Partyworld Co, as well as the Chinese Music Song and Lyrics Broadcast Association, which have jointly filed a petition with the Intellectual Property Office to review the hikes, sources said yesterday.
It is not the first time KTV operators have protested rate hikes by the association, but provisions of the Copyright Collective Management Organization Act (著作權集管團體條例) show that it can set the licensing rates of intellectual property that it oversees and manages.
Songwriters commonly use collective management organizations to manage their works. The organizations, after licensing the right to use the songs, pay the creators royalties from the proceeds.
The act says that such entities must uphold the rights of public broadcast, public transmission and public performance, with KTV operators required to get licensing rights from them.
The Intellectual Property Office yesterday said that it is obligated to review the issue and decide within four months.
During the review, both sides would be asked to provide further documents as needed, such as KTV song lists and how often songs are used, the office said, adding that delays in providing documents would drag out the review.
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