LOCAL COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BATTLE PIRATES FOR HCMC MARKET

UNCLAS HO CHI MINH CITY 000199 STATE FOR EAP/MLS AND EEB/TPP/IPE JURBAN STATE FOR EEB/TPP/IPE FOR HALLOCK, WATTS, AND KEAT STATE ALSO PASS USTR DBISBEE AND RBAE AMEMBASSY BANGKOK FOR USPTO JNESS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON KIPR ETRD VM SUBJECT: LOCAL COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BATTLE PIRATES FOR HCMC MARKET SHARE REF: Hanoi 32 ¶1. (SBU) Summary. Local copyright holders are driving the expansion of the legitimate music and video sectors in HCMC. While CD and DVD piracy remains rampant in family shops and street stalls throughout the city, locally produced and licensed Vietnamese music CDs dominate the shelves at high end retail outlets, which also feature a limited selection of legitimate foreign music product. A small but growing market for licensed foreign DVDs has likewise emerged, and the collection of royalties for live and recorded music has soared. End Summary. Domestic Music Market Holding Own Against Pirates -------------- -------------- ¶2. (SBU) The piracy rate for Vietnamese music CDs in HCMC is only 40 to 50 percent, claimed Mr. Huynh Tiet, director of the Ben Thanh recording studio in downtown HCMC. Speaking over the muffled din of a Vietnamese pop tune being recorded next door, he attributed the high percentage of legitimate domestic music to both better enforcement and a more refined urban listening audience. HCMC's growing middle class is increasingly willing to pay more for a higher quality, attractively packaged legitimate music product, Tiet said. EconOff's "piracy" tour of music and video retail establishments confirmed that while legitimate Vietnamese music CDs priced at 40,000 VND (2.30 USD)and up dominate the shelves in higher end music and department stores in downtown HCMC, street stalls several blocks away offered the same music in simple plastic envelopes for 10,000 VND (0.60 USD). Foreign CDs - more expensive and more pirated -------------- ¶3. (SBU) While some high end outlets likewise featured only legitimate foreign product, several others offered three categories of foreign music CDs: 1) pirated discs for 16,000 to 40,000 VND (0.90 to 2.30 USD); 2) legitimately licensed CDs produced in Vietnam by known local labels, and 3) a category labeled 'imported music' that consisted of product legitimately produced overseas (e.g., Canada, U.S., Singapore). (Note: We assume these are 'grey market' products, not officially imported. End Note.) The last two categories sold for two hundred thousand VND (11.50 USD) and up. Legitimate DVD Outlets Gearing Up to Battle Pirates -------------- -------------- ¶4. (SBU) While the legitimate domestic music sector is sizeable, the video market remains predominantly pirated with few legitimate DVDs available, even in high end outlets. Ms. Le Thi Thuy, CEO of a media company which licenses foreign television programming for HCMC television stations, noted that because of the high level of DVD piracy, U.S. entertainment companies such as Fox and Warner Brothers drew the line at TV rights and would not license DVD distribution rights for the same programs. Nevertheless, legitimate DVD distribution channels are emerging. Local film distributor Thien Ngan Company told EconOff they sold more than 3,000 Sony-licensed DVDs at their Galaxy cinema outlets last year. Ms. Thuy said she plans to sell a similar number of DVDs this year of a Hong Kong TV series she has recently licensed. She notes that because the availability of legitimate DVDs is still very limited, most consumers do not yet have the option of buying legal. However once several legitimate traders have established niche markets she plans to establish a media association of foreign and Vietnamese representatives of the film and video industry to run IPR public awareness campaigns and lobby HCMC authorities for stricter enforcement. Weak Enforcement Pushes Private Sector to Partner with DVD Pirates -------------- -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Ms. Thuy is dismissive of HCMC authorities' DVD anti-piracy efforts, saying "it takes months for them to take action." Instead, she reaches out to major DVD pirates herself, to either threaten legal action or to cut a deal. She is currently negotiating with several 'politically connected' individuals operating a large scale, high quality pirate DVD production facility. She aims to persuade them to produce legitimate product her firm has licensed, offering to share profits, but also to make use of the pirates' extensive distribution network ('much larger than ours'). High licensing fees disadvantage legitimate distributors -------------- -------------- ¶6. (SBU) All our interlocutors said high licensing fees for foreign media content increased the cost of legitimate physical product to such an extent that it was difficult to compete with pirated goods. The lower royalties paid to domestic copyright holders (along with higher sound quality and more attractive packaging) help keep local music CDs competitive even at prices four times those of pirated discs. The high cost of licensing foreign music however, raised the price ratio of legitimate to pirated product to 10 or more, discouraging all but the most discriminating customers according to Mr. Tiet. Ms. Thuy said that licensing payments alone often amounted to two dollars per DVD, equivalent to the entire cost of a low-end pirated DVD. She stressed that legal markets can flourish only when legitimate product is available at competitive rates. As an example she noted that, unlike CDs and DVDs, TV program broadcast rights are priced according to the size of the local advertising market. As a result, a popular South Korean soap opera that will cost 100,000 USD per episode to air in Japan is made available to Ms. Thuy's HCMC station for 800 USD. According to Ms. Thuy and others (for example the Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia, reftel) television piracy is no longer an issue in HCMC, and audiences enjoy a large selection of legitimate, foreign programming. Domestic Royalty Fees Surge -------------- ¶7. (SBU) Royalties collected from music users in southern Vietnam skyrocketed from some "dozens of millions of VND" (12 million VND = $750 USD) in 2004 to nine billion VND ($530,000 USD) last year according to the Director of the southern branch of the Vietnam Center for Protection of Music Copyright (VCPMC) Mr. Dinh Trung Can. While the southern branch of the VCPMC received some start up support from the GVN in 2004, the self-described non-profit "private" organization now subsists from fees it collects and funding from international copyright protection organizations. With a staff of only 14, the VCPMC has signed collection agreements with TV and radio stations in 22 southern provinces, quadrupled the royalties collected from live performances in 24 southern provinces, collected over one billion VND ($57,000 USD) from karaoke software distributors, and signed royalty agreements with 85 percent of Saigon Tourist-affiliated hotels and restaurants in the area, according to Mr. Can. (Note: State-owned Saigon Tourist is Vietnam's largest tourism company and owns all or equity stakes of many mid-range and high-end hotels throughout Vietnam. End note). He credited strong support from provincial Departments of Culture, Sports, and Tourism (DoCST),and increasing public awareness of IPRs with enabling the large increase in collected royalties. For example, the HCMC DoCST now routinely requires that concert promoters have a copyright agreement in place before granting a permit for live performances. VCPMC aims to expand their collection activities in central coast provinces in ¶2009. Comment: -------------- ¶8. (SBU) Although it is impossible to accurately gauge the proportion of legitimate audio and video product available in HCMC, producers and distributors of both foreign and domestic licensed product appear to be expanding market share. Despite inadequate anti-piracy enforcement and high licensing fees for foreign media content local media entrepreneurs are competing head-on with pirate networks. Ultimately it may be the self-interest of the private sector that elicits sufficient enforcement resources from the GVN to turn the tide against CD and DVD piracy. End Comment. ¶9. (U) This cable was coordinated with Embassy Hanoi. FAIRFAX