China Music Industry's Move toward Paid Service Mode

　　Music insiders have been murmuring for some time about massive changes heading towards China's music industry.

 

　　So far, no new policies have been officially implemented¹, but the industry is bracing² itself for what many consider inevitable³ shift towards a paid service model.

 

　　CRI's Jordan Lee reports.

 

　　Combating music piracy⁴ in China has been at the bottom of the government's barrel of intellectual property reforms for some time.

 

　　But Chinese producer Goa Xiaosong's announcement that a July 1 deadline had been set to end illegal downloading was a warning that the industry was about to undergo radical⁵ restructuring.

 

　　A collaboration⁶ between government, content providers, and record companies will attempt to move China's online music market into a new era of copyright protection and fair compensation for artists.

 

　　But will the millions of Chinese netizens who are accustomed to free music resist the change?

 

　　Thomas Reemer, Founder⁷ and CEO of web-based content provider 88tc88, says that piracy will not become obsolete⁸ until people have a better alternative:

 

　　"To combat illegal downloading you have to offer a legal alternative.

 

　　Otherwise people will stick to what they know. People are not mean by stealing content, they just do it because they don't find it anywhere else."

 

　　Reemer launched Paishouba in Beijing, a mobile download platform that provides Western music, games, aps, and ebooks to Chinese consumers.

 

　　Paishouba is drawing a diverse group of western artists to the Chinese market by providing them with a safe sales platform:

 

　　We support the artists with us content providers, artists get paid, and we enable a better ecosystem⁹. Now more and more companies are following suit, that has to do with government initiative as well as people understanding that they are losing, not getting, a lot of revenue if they don't enable this market to earn money.

 

　　Statistics published by China Audio & Video Association showed that China's 2012 copyright market was valued at 40 billion yuan, but only generated 800 million yuan in actual revenues.

 

　　Although it is difficult to accurately¹⁰ quantify the impact of music piracy on revenues, it is possible to predict the negative affect piracy has on an industry's development.

 

　　Piracy eats away at artists incentive¹¹ to create. Over time, this will limit the market and result in a shallow content pool.

 

　　A survey by Beijing-based research group Music 2.0 found that one third of Chinese music consumers are actually willing to pay for downloads if it gives them access to better content.

 

　　Associate Professor Jin Haijun, a specialist in intellectual property at Renmin University Law School, says China's music industry is ripe for reform.

 

　　Jin compares the current state of the music industry to that of the film industry in the early 2000's when illegal downloading was rife¹²:

 

　　"Several years ago, that's also the same problem, illegal downloading for movies or television episodes. //What the lessons can be learned is that the government and the industry put together, joined together, to make things better. They cracked down on the illegal ones. At the same time paid the royalties¹³ to the movie producers. The internet users had to pay something like 5 yuan for the latest movie"

 

　　After the government cracked down on illegal movie downloads, the domestic film industry experienced a renaissance¹⁴, boasting over 30% annual growth rates between 2004 and 2009.

 

　　Many factors contributed to that growth, but the motions to fight piracy certainly played a role.

 

　　The July 1 deadline has passed, and many attribute this delay to the failure of the various parties to come to an agreement regarding the new changes.

 

　　For CRI, I'm Jordan Lee.

1 implemented   

v.实现( implement的过去式和过去分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• This agreement, if not implemented, is a mere scrap of paper. 这个协定如不执行只不过是一纸空文。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The economy is in danger of collapse unless far-reaching reforms are implemented. 如果不实施影响深远的改革，经济就面临崩溃的危险。 来自辞典例句

2 bracing   

adj.令人振奋的

参考例句：

• The country is bracing itself for the threatened enemy invasion. 这个国家正准备奋起抵抗敌人的入侵威胁。
• The atmosphere in the new government was bracing. 新政府的气氛是令人振奋的。

3 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

4 piracy   

n.海盗行为，剽窃，著作权侵害

参考例句：

• The government has already adopted effective measures against piracy.政府已采取有效措施惩治盗版行为。
• They made the place a notorious centre of piracy.他们把这地方变成了臭名昭著的海盗中心。

5 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

6 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。

7 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

8 obsolete   

adj.已废弃的，过时的

参考例句：

• These goods are obsolete and will not fetch much on the market.这些货品过时了，在市场上卖不了高价。
• They tried to hammer obsolete ideas into the young people's heads.他们竭力把陈旧思想灌输给青年。

9 ecosystem   

n.生态系统

参考例句：

• This destroyed the ecosystem of the island.这样破坏了岛上的生态系统。
• We all have an interest in maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem.维持生态系统的完整是我们共同的利益。

10 accurately   

adv.准确地，精确地

参考例句：

• It is hard to hit the ball accurately.准确地击中球很难。
• Now scientists can forecast the weather accurately.现在科学家们能准确地预报天气。

11 incentive   

n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机

参考例句：

• Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
• He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。

12 rife   

adj.(指坏事情)充斥的，流行的，普遍的

参考例句：

• Disease is rife in the area.疾病在这一区很流行。
• Corruption was rife before the election.选举之前腐败盛行。

13 royalties   

特许权使用费

参考例句：

• I lived on about £3,000 a year from the royalties on my book. 我靠着写书得来的每年约3，000英镑的版税生活。 来自辞典例句
• Payments shall generally be made in the form of royalties. 一般应采取提成方式支付。 来自经济法规部分

14 renaissance   

n.复活，复兴，文艺复兴

参考例句：

• The Renaissance was an epoch of unparalleled cultural achievement.文艺复兴是一个文化上取得空前成就的时代。
• The theme of the conference is renaissance Europe.大会的主题是文艺复兴时期的欧洲。