Ringtone music piracy flourishes in Asia region

The International Conferation of Societies of Authors and
Composers' regional director K.T. Ang said most of its Asia-Pacific
chapters are suffering losses as a result of unlicensed sales of ringtones
derived from hit songs.

Japan and Korea make the best efforts to ensure
ringtone vendors tow the line, followed by Singapore and Malaysia, Ang
said. "As for countries like Thailand and Phillipines, they are almost
entirely not licensed," he told AFP.

In Singapore, ringtone piracy is deemed a civil
liability, which means copyright owners have to take their own legal
action.

The onus then falls on the Composers and Authors
Society of Singapore (COMPASS) and Music Publishers of Singapore (MPS) to
make sure operators pay royalties, but they have met with little success
thus far, chalking up mounting legal costs to chase after evasive
pirates.

"There is a legal remedy, but it is a costly
exercise... Most of the time you have to do your own investigation and it
is hard to pin down some of these companies," Recording Industry
Association of Singapore's (RIAS) chief executive officer Edward
Neubronner said.

"Most of these unlicensed operators set up shell
companies, and there is no one to pick up the phone when you call."

COMPASS and MPA each charge 6.25 to 10 percent of
operators' revenues for broadcast and reproduction rights respectively,
but COMPASS' licensing officer Melvin Tan said up to 55 percent of
operators are not licensed, and in the case of MPS, almost all operators
do not pay them.

"Only about five percent are licensed... many will
feign ignorance and some will say they paid to COMPASS already," MPS's
director Richard Ho said.