Foreigners Need Approval

The Chinese government ordered all online music sites to seek approval from censors before they distribute any foreign songs over the Internet, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The ostensible reason for the crackdown is tougher enforcement against music piracy.

The Ministry of Culture also said on its Web site that the move is meant to solve problems with “the intermingling of good and bad content” and “the large quantity of imported music without approval.”

The task promises to be a formidable one, because the new rules require that all music from outside China, even from Hong Kong and Taiwan, be submitted to the ministry.

The submissions must include lyrics translated into Chinese and written out. Documents must prove the intellectual property rights attached to a song are not being infringed upon.

Also, download services will have to apply for a special license, a regulation that seems to also cover Baidu, the country’s No. 1 search engine, which is known to provide links to unlicensed music.

About 80 percent of its traffic comes from music searches. Baidu has already said it has attained “approval” from the government.

All these submissions must be given to the ministry by the end of the year for songs already available. The ministry has said it will take 20 days to process each one.