Funeral parlors in China could soon be paying copyright royalties when they play a dirge for the dead.

The idea was suggested by a copyright lawyer, Wang Lei, in east Jiangsu Province to the Music Copyright Society of China (MCSC), the Beijing News reported yesterday.

The report said the copyright group would use Nanjing as a pilot city for royalties for playing the funeral composition known as "Aiyue."

However the MCSC's legal department director, Liu Ping, dismissed the likelihood of the move saying: "It's only one lawyer's personal opinion."

According to Liu, playing popular music in public places for commercial use is a violation of the Copyright Law. Copyright expires 50 years after the composer's death.

"Playing classical music is okay," Liu said. "But we found that most hotels and restaurants are playing songs by popular singers."

The association has 40 million songs from 5,000 artists for which it collects royalties.

Major corporations like Carrefour, Wal-Mart, McDonald's and Kentucky Fried Chicken, as well as the majority of four- or five-star hotels in Beijing, pay royalties to the association.

Last week, 200 hotels in Kunming, the capital of southwestern Yunnan Province, stopped playing background music when the MCSC demanded royalties. The organization asked the hotels to pay 1.75 yuan (US$0.25) per bed a month for using background music that was protected by law.

The fact that the hotels stopped playing the music "is progress in itself," Liu said. "At least they realize they are infringing on the musicians' rights.

"But it's not a situation we would like to see," he said. Instead, the public awareness of copyright issues should be raised.

According to Liu, 80 percent of royalties the MCSC collects go to the musicians, while 20 percent is kept to fund the society. Founded in 1992 as a non-profit collection organization for music copyright, MCSC also cooperates with its counterparts in 50 countries and regions on copyright issues.

(Xinhua News Agency December 8, 2008)