MUSIC COPYRIGHT (Thailand) brought the Asia-Pacific Music Creator Conference to Thailand for the first time earlier this month with the aim of raising the management of music copyright in Thailand to international standards, updating knowledge on global music licensing as well as promoting a better understanding of music copyright among the general public.
Nuntawan Sakuntanaga, director-general of the Commerce Ministry’s Intellectual Property Department opened the event at Sofitel So with Virat Youtaworn, honorary president of Music Copyright (Thailand), on hand to welcome guests.
These included Scot Morris, chairman of Asia-Pacific Regional Committee, International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC), representatives and management teams of musical organisations across Asia Pacific and several musicians, among them Sobchai “Ford” Graiyoonsen, Thaitanium’s Nay Myo Thant, Khanngoen Nuanual, Passakorn “Pok” Chirathivat and Sukanya Miguel.
Composers, representatives of organisations and experts shared their experiences in casual sessions that were easy to access and understand. One of the highlights was the discussion on “Fair Trade Music”, which aims to certify that all actors in the music business adhere to standards of transparency and fair compensation for music creators. The panel, which was made up of Lorenzo Ferrero, chairman of the International Council of Music Creators, composer Shunichi Tokura, Azusa 2-Gou of Karyudo band and musician-producer Nattapol “Kor” Srichomkwan, covered such issues as the copyright collective management system in Thailand, international licensing practice and the impact of technological development on copyright management. Morris, in his role as chairman of the CISAC Asia-Pacific Committee, and JC Choi of the Korea Music Copyright Association provided the audience with an overview of “Best Practice on Copyright Collective Management”.
Spencer Lee, deputy chief of the Composer and Authors Society of Hong Kong, and Satoshi Watanabe, Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers explained the International Practice Licensing for Broadcasting and Cinema. This is seen as particularly important for Thailand as an increasing number of its movies are being snapped up by overseas buyers and shown all over the region. The speakers made the point that the introduction of a modern system such as Music Monitoring Technology to track music copyright will provide another option to ensure that copyright compensation returns to music rights owners.
The organisers were pleased with the turnout at the conference, noting that it was another important step in industry history to improve the license management system in Thailand and raise awareness and encourage Thai people to be attentive to the importance of copyright.
This source first appeared on The Nation Life.