VND300,000 to sing Trinh Cong Son song
The family of late well-known song writer Trinh Cong Son has asked night clubs in HCM City to pay royalties when they use songs written by the late musician.
Night clubs last month received a requirement, signed by Trinh Vinh Trinh, the younger sister of Trinh Cong Son, in which Trinh asked clubs to pay the royalty of VND300,000/song sung. Clubs will have to pay royalties based on the total number of times they have used Trinh Cong Son songs since the day the Intellectual Property Law took effect (July 1, 2006).
The requirement also says that the deadline for payment is March 31, 2008. If the family doesnt receive royalties by that date, they will consult legal agencies to deal with cases under Vietnamese laws and related sides will have to pay all emerging expenditures, including legal fees.
According to the requirement of the late song writer family, night clubs in HCM City will have to pay large sums of money for Trinh Cong Son songs they have used since July 1, 2006 to late March 2008.
Singers and music show organisers have been using Trinh Cong Son songs free of charge, except for a handful of them.
Singer Anh Tuyet, the owner of ATB night club, said ATB sent VND10 million to Trinh Cong Son family on the occasion of his death anniversary, which is considered a symbolic royalty. Since the day she received the requirement on royalty payment, ATB has no longer used Trinh Cong Son songs.
Tuyet said song users must pay royalties but it is very difficult to collect VND300,000/song because in one night singing Trinh Cong Song songs (every Friday with around 20 songs), she will have to pay VND6 million of royalty while she can only earn VND2 million (with 20 audience members/night).
œSo how can my club afford that payment? Standards should be made or the royalty should be calculated based on our revenue, not the fixed price of VND300,000 for a song, Tuyet said.
An anonymous owner of a night club in HCM City said since he received the requirement from Trinh Cong Son family, his club has not used Trinh Cong Son music. Even when the audience asked to have Trinh Cong Son music, he refused to play it.
Some singers who often sing Trinh Cong Son songs at night clubs and music shows have refused to talk about this issue. They just say they sing and dont know about royalty issues.
Source Tien Phong