Hong Kong 101 Project - Campus e-radios confront bankruptcy

Campus e-radios confront bankruptcy

Written by AUSTIN CHIU TUNG-WAI
Sunday, 06 April 2008
Univerity internet-radios in Hong Kong are now up against an operational challenge because CASH, the Composers and Authors Society of Hong Kong, wants to charge them for copyrighted music they play on the air. All university-run internet radios received an e-mail from CASH in May, outlining the society’s plan to charge them for royalties, a payment made by users to owners of copyrighted entities. Discussion between CASH and six of the campus e-radios started in October. CASH had drafted a licensing proposal and sent it to the universities concerned after a meeting. But, owing to the non-profit background of these radios, the students find themselves unable to fulfill the scheme and are looking for an alternative. As they read through the Copyright Ordinance, they find their educational nature may lift them from the crisis. Under Copyright Ordinance section 43 and 76, royalties can be exempted when the use of music work is for educational purposes or purposes of an educational club or society. However, CASH’s spokesman said these e-radios can’t be seen as entirely educational because their audience is the public, not just students. A spokesman for the Intellectual Property Department agreed that activities held by education establishment are not necessarily educational. Dr Kevin Pun,a Law professor from the Hong Kong University , explained the ordinance, saying that exemption is given only for “showing” and “playing” of copyrighted work but not broadcasting. He pointed out that e-radios also fail the condition on audience, which states that audience should consist mainly of teachers and pupils or other persons directly connected with the activities. Alice Lam, a profesor of the Law department, HKU, teld the same view and added that e-radios, even run by universities, might not meet “teaching purposes” because the music is not used “for the purposes of instruction”. She said that e-stations could be “channels for exchange” rather than for the “advancement of education”. But thanks to the uncertain nature of these radios, they may clear the royalties if they can convince CASH, she said. With very tight budgets, the radios expect leniency from the society, or at least a big cut in the fee. Chan Wai-man and Mak Shun-cheun, the Acting Director and External vice Director of City University e-radio station Small City Big Talk, said they have received minimal financial support from the university because they are only an interest group. “We understand that we have to respect copyright but we just can’t afford to pay the fee,” they said. Echoing the two directors was CommChannel’s Director April Chow who said that they had been struggling to make ends meet. She said that they could not “squeeze” any extra money out. “Shortage of money has been a problem when we run our radio,” she said, “We are low on cash and they are talking about ten times our budget.” Although exact details of the scheme are concealed, Wilson Pun, External Secretary of People’s Campus Radio, UST, gave a hint. He said that two licensing proposals, one based on the number of music works they broadcast each year and another on their yearly revenue, were suggested, with the higher to apply. As a novice broadcaster, he said that music is “indispensable” and a key to quality programmes. He said web-Js were free to decide what to do before but now they are reluctant to “intervene in the autonomy”. Chu-fun, a DJ at Commercial Radio FM 903 and once was a web-j, said, “Playing a song with good lyrics is an impressive approach to highlight an issue.” Although she agrees that programme content produced by campus e-radios may not be purely academic, she thinks their operation nature is. “Students, especially communication students, do not have any channels other than e-radio to show their work to others. It is a platform for them to gain some practical experience,” she spoke from her experience. Tommy Lo, Director of independent e-radio On Air Power, said that they hadn’t contact CASH and only contacted IFPI about a year ago. “IFPI didn’t really know how to answer the question,” Mr Lo said, “They said that we can use the music as long as it does not harm the benefit of record labels.” He called for a “fair” and “consistent” charging system for all radios. Professor Pun said that radios rarely receive exemption and it would be a civil offence if CASH took legal action. CASH said the licensing fee offered was set after a “more than reasonable” balance between interests of e-radios and music owners, and disagreed that they would impose hardship on those stations. Edited by FRIDAY FU RUI Comments (0) Show/Hide comments Write comment Show/Hide comment form Name Email Comment Write the displayed characters
Last Updated ( Sunday, 06 April 2008 )