A KCON concert held at Staples Center in Los Angeles. (image: CJ ENM)
SEOUL, May 19 (Korea Bizwire) — A growing number of Chinese music companies are infringing on copyrights by adapting Korean songs into Chinese versions and uploading and registering them on YouTube as original songs.
A string of K-pop songs, including IU’s “Morning Tears”, Brown Eyes’ “Already One Year” and Younha’s “Waiting” were adapted into Chinese songs without permission and registered as original songs on YouTube.
The Korea Music Copyright Association (KMCA), which manages copyrights on behalf of Korean songwriters, noted that some Chinese music producers adapted Korean songs without obtaining the rights and pre-registered them under the Content ID service on YouTube, causing damage to original K-pop songs.
Content ID is a YouTube service that enables copyright holders to easily identify their content on YouTube.
With the original K-pop labels not registered under Content ID, Chinese music companies pre-registered their copycat songs, with associated copyright fees being distributed to them.
Among the Chinese music companies that registered adapted songs as original ones are Believe Music, EWway Music and Enjoy Music.
After investigation, the KMCA found that what the Chinese music companies claimed was the right to access the original song had not been passed, with copyright royalties that should be paid to the original songwriters remaining unclaimed.
“We completed measures to ensure that YouTube will distribute copyright royalties properly in the future,” a KMCA official said, adding that local music companies should be actively monitoring online content to ensure that copyrights are not violated.
J. S. Shin (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)
