China to crack down rampant online music piracy

China has long been notorious for rampant music piracy, but Beijing is now taking bigger steps to crack down on illegal online distribution.

中国长期以来因盗版音乐猖獗而声名不佳，但现在北京正采取更严厉的措施打击非法在线音乐传播。

Last week, the National Copyright Administration of China said 2.2 million songs have been removed from online music platforms in China, after the government copyright watchdog last month ordered service providers to remove unlicensed music from their platforms by the end of July.

上周，中国国家版权局说，大约有220万首歌曲已经从中国在线音乐平台下线，版权监督部门上月曾要求网络音乐服务商在7月底前将未经授权传播的音乐作品全部下线。

The crackdown indicates the willingness of China's largest Internet companies – Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Tencent Holdings ltd. and Baidu Inc. — to work with the government and clean up the online music market themselves, industry experts say. Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu all operate online music streaming businesses.

业界专家称，这次严厉打击表明中国最大的几家互联网公司——阿里巴巴、腾讯和百度——都在配合政府工作，主动清理在线音乐市场。这三家互联网公司旗下都有在线音乐业务。

Industry experts say that major Internet firms will likely continue expanding their libraries of licensed music, while smaller online distributors that can't afford licensing deals may struggle to survive. There are more than 100 pirated music sites in China, according to industry estimates. Popularity of such sites has made it difficult for music companies to generate revenue from online distribution in China.

业界专家说，大型互联网公司很可能将继续扩大自己的有版权音乐库，而无力购买版权的小型在线音乐供应商则可能难以为继。据估计，中国有超过100个盗版音乐网站。这些网站的流行，使得中国的音乐公司很难通过在线传播方式获得收入。

"There have been many crackdown attempts before, but this is the first one in which major digital service providers are actually working with the NCAC towards a shared goal." said Ed Peto, managing director of Outdustry Group, a Beijing-based music industry consultancy.

总部设在北京的音乐产业咨询公司格外音乐的高管埃德·皮托说："以前也有过很多次打击盗版的举措，但这还是大型在线服务供应商第一次真的配合国家版权局工作，来实现共同的目标。"

The end game is to create a landscape in which the only free music available in China is provided by legitimately licensed platforms, and those platforms will try to get more users to pay for premium subscription services, Mr. Peto said.

皮托说，最终目标是创造出这样的环境：在中国唯一能提供免费音乐作品的将是合法获得版权的平台，这些平台将试图争取让更多用户花钱购买高级会员服务。

So far, few companies have succeeded to get Chinese consumers to pay for music, given that most Internet users have long been accustomed to free online entertainment.

到目前为止，还没有几家公司成功地让中国消费者为音乐作品付费，因为大部分网络用户都已习惯了免费在线娱乐。

Tencent, a social networks and online games company, is promoting a paid subscription service as part of its QQ Music online streaming platform. While QQ Music lets users stream most songs free of charge, some users pay for the premium Green Diamond membership, which offers higher-quality sound, members-only concerts and other perks. Still, the number of Green Diamond members account for only a single-digit percentage of all QQ Music users.

提供社交媒体和网络游戏服务的腾讯公司正在宣传一项付费订购服务，这是其在线音乐平台QQ音乐的一部分。QQ音乐的用户可以免费收听大部分音乐，与此同时，部分用户花钱购买绿钻会员资格，可获取更高的音质以及其他好处。尽管如此，绿钻用户数量在QQ音乐用户总量中占比还不到10%。