Its director, musician Pho Duc Phuong, said this year the amount would rise sharply since the centre planned a drive to collect royalties from hotels, karaoke bars, night clubs, and other places of entertainment.

“Only 18 percent of royalties for writers and composers came from the use of their works on radio, television, and discs [because] we encounter great difficulties in collecting from them for lack of experienced professionals.”

One of them, he said, lies in controlling the use of works by people who usually “ignore royalties”.

In its eight years of existence, the centre collected nearly VND55 billion from Vietnam and abroad.

In 2008, it signed nearly 700 contracts with music producers and entertainment companies.
The country’s first organisation to protect songwriters and composers from copyright infringement has signed up 1,602 Vietnamese artists.

After becoming a member of the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers in 2007, Vietnamese composers are protected when their materials are performed or recorded abroad.

Foreign musical products are given the same protection in Vietnam.

Phan Mong Thuy, deputy director of the Phuong Nam Culture Company, one of HCM City’s leading music producers, said copyright protection is still a new concept in Vietnam.

“We need the State’s help to enforce the rights of composers, songwriters, and users as stipulated in the Intellectual Property Law, which has taken effect since 2006,” she said.