Copyright protection of original online music products based on applied statistical mathematics – take music trade network as an example
Publicado en línea: 17 ago 2022
Páginas: 975 - 984
Recibido: 16 oct 2021
Aceptado: 15 may 2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/amns.2021.2.00209
Palabras clave
© 2022 Tao Jiang et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
In the long history of music development, music was originally passed on and preserved by oral singing and live performance. More than a thousand years before Christ, during the West Zhou Dynasty in China, text score was created. As a result, music can be recorded by the score, which can be physically stored for a long time. In 1877, American scientist Edison invented phonograph and records, which dramatically changed the way music was preserved. These two inventions can help to record and disseminate music completely and vividly. After these epochal revolutions in, the invention of television in 1939 and the advent of tape recorders in 1956 also contributed to the further improvement of the communication of music. Nowadays, the rapid development of the internet leads to a second revolution in music spread. Users can download or upload music products through the internet, which give rise to an unprecedented prosperity of online music. The rapid development also brings unprecedented opportunities and challenges for online music. Plenty of original music platforms and trading websites being born and thriving, under this background, original online music are emerged as well as the online music trading networks.
The ‘piracy’ in the music industry has led to one lawsuit after another in the record industry. In particular, the development from traditional music to antiorthodox music has reduced the threshold of music creation. More and more lovers create music, and in more and more music works, new voices, new voices and new passions are formed. However, these new music works have hidden copyright concerns, and the interests of music creators need to be protected. In the field of music industry, producers are often consumers. With the reduction of the threshold of music creation, more and more consumers have become producers. Therefore, the traditional boundary between consumers and producers has been blurred. Some musicians create music independently from scratch, and some become famous by transforming other people's works. These U-shaped became what Tim O’Reilly, a book publisher and prophet of the DIY era, called ‘a new participation mechanism’. From the past single industry structure to the current two-way market, in the two-way connected market, the utility of the head market is more and more limited, and the role of the tail market is more and more obvious. Therefore, under the effective mechanism of effectively protecting the achievements of original musicians, the tail effect of the music market will become more and more significant.
Original online music is developing rapidly. However, its copyright protection consciousness is weak, and the protection measures are not perfect. Inspired by the activities of the China Choral Works Copyright Protection and Sharing Summit Forum, we try to discuss the copyright protection of original inline music by taking the music trading network as an example in this paper.
Because of the current prevalence of the internet, it becomes more and more convenient for music creators and enthusiasts to share their music product. The cost of doing online music is greatly reduced; at the same time, the platform can accommodate more original music product. Although most online music is not liked as frequently as mainstream music, it is always listened by someone several times. This phenomenon is defined as long tail problem of original online music, which is put forward by Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of ‘Wired’. The long tail theory is also a developed study of economic in internet era in the 21st century. The long tail theory tells the same story as the 80/20 law, which was put forward by Italian economist Valedo during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The law of 80/20 holds that 20% of any group of things is primary while the other 80% is not important. On the other hand, the long tail theory pays more attention to those 80% inconsequential long tails that are not as popular as the head. Although the 80% groups seem less important, the combination of these long tails can create a greater market effect than that of the heads. ‘With the rise of online communication and retailing, we are entering a rich world, and what draws our attention should be the long tails in the demand curve, where the demand is not zero’, Anderson writes in his book. «The Long Tail Theory» is written by Chris Anderson of the United States and translated by Jiangtao Qiao, 2006.
‘Music trading network’ provides a platform for these ‘long tails’ to display and trade. The long tail economy of all grassroots original music can even reach or exceed the value of the most popular music product. Thus, the long tail problem should not be underestimated. Music trading network is the bridge connecting the supply and demand sides, is the original music online trading market and is the original music direct commercialisation of the network base. The music trading network plays a certain role in promoting the prosperity of original music and formatting online music industrialisation.
The website of ‘Music Trading Network’ is
Original music occupies an indispensable position in the entire online music industry and is an effective supplement to the mainstream popular music. However, the copyright protection of online original music is not paid enough attention as mainstream music. We think, as an important part of the long tail economy, the copyright protection of online original music cannot be underestimated. In the following chapters, we take the music trading network as an example to study its copyright protection
In February 2010, the eleventh National People's Congress passed the opinions on the second amendment of the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China, which came into effect on April 1. The legislation clarifies the rights of copyright owners and provides a clear legal basis for music copyright. According to the statistics, from 2010 to 2021, among all kinds of original music disputes, the number of copyright disputes is the highest, reaching 1,872 cases. Therefore, it is urgent to strengthen the protection of original music copyright (see Figure 1).
Fig. 1
Types and quantity distribution of original music copyright disputes from 2010 to 2021
With rapid globalisation, more and more people are concerned about the issue of copyright, and music works copyright also get more and more attention. In terms of copyright, the music trading network has certain protection measures but also it has shortcomings. We will discuss its measures and shortcomings, respectively, in the following paragraphs.
The music trading network realises the value of the copyright of music products by transferring the copyright attribution of music products through transactions. Music trading reflects the recognition of the music copyright of the works sold by both the buyer and seller. Music trading expresses the respect for the original copyright owner. More importantly, music trading embodies the gradual improvement of people's copyright awareness.
When registering as a music trading website user, the platform requires users to agree to the copyright declaration of MP3s and other entertainment files, ensuring that the copyright of the songs they publish belongs to them. The above measures expressed the attitude of the music trading network to protect music copyright and to eliminate the phenomenon of infringement.
The TSA service is a special service for music copyright protection. The trusted time stamp intellectual property protection platform is opened and operated by the United Trust Time Stamp Service Center in 2006. The platform can perform credible timestamp authentication for various works of literature, art, natural sciences, social sciences, engineering technology, etc., which solves the problem of difficulty for the right holder to provide evidence in disputes. TSA is an electronic certificate issued by the United Trusted Timestamp Service Center, which is used to prove who the intellectual property (electronic data, documents) applying for certification is (who) and what kind of one (when) works (what). It is an electronic certificate with legal effect, which has been tested by a large number of judicial practices (as shown in Figure 2).
Fig. 2
Timestamp service flow
In addition, musicians need to complete the copyright registration before selling music works. Copyright owners should log in the timestamp copyright protection system before the publication of song works so that they can immediately obtain a timestamp belonging to the work. Online music copyright registration works can be registered in text format if only words and songs or complete music works can be registered in audio format. When applying for a TSA timestamp, musicians do not have to upload the original file, which effectively protects the privacy of the music work. The timestamp service centre extracts the unique authentication code corresponding to the original file on the local computer to generate the timestamp e-certificate. The timestamp e-certificate will be paired and saved with the original file, forming an umbrella for the copyright of the original work. Time stamps have some legal effect and can provide proof that music is copyrighted.
Music trading network is an e-commerce model for online original music. It is also a e-platform for original musicians to show themselves and realise their self-value. The Music Trading Network focuses on the transaction of music copyright. In addition to providing the time stamp as the legal basis for music copyright, the Music Trading Network takes no other protection of music copyright. Moreover, there are still a series of problems in the protection of music copyright.
First, there is a lack of awareness of copyright protection. The disclaimer of Music Trading Network emphasises that the they are not liable for any accident, negligence, contract destruction, libel, copyright, intellectual property infringement or any loss (including computer virus infection due to downloading) caused by transaction. All the link addresses of music products on the Music Trading Network are provided by users voluntarily, and the copyright of music products and the authenticity and legality of the content are all responsible by users themselves. Music Trading Network does not provide explicit or implicit guarantee for the copyright of the music products, for the authenticity and legality of the contents and to be liable for any individual/unit's losses caused by the use of the products, including but not limited to direct, indirect, accidental, punitive and secondary losses. Music Trading Network overemphasises the avoidance of responsibility and lacks the awareness of copyright protection of original music works on its website. We argue that Music Trading Network should strengthen the awareness of the protection of grassroots original music works in the website so as to promote the healthy and sustainable development of themselves.
Second, there is a lack of copyright liability. A musician must unconditionally accept the terms of service of a registered user of Music trading network when signing up as a member. The terms include rights and obligations, notices, disclaimers, modification of service terms, termination of service, application of law and jurisdiction, etc. Most of these terms are pro-forma, and most of them are designed to avoid the risks of the music trading network itself. For example, Music trading network will under no circumstances assume any obligation or responsibility to the musician for the use of the musician's products. If Music trading network is willing to assume any form of responsibility or obligation to the musician in respect of his/her work, the musician and Music trading network shall enter into a separate written agreement. In general, Music Trading Network does not guarantee that its services will meet users’ requirements or its services will not be interrupted. What's worse, Music Trading Network cannot protect users’ devices from viruses when they accept music-trading network services. Overall, Music Trading Network does not guarantee the timeliness, security, authenticity or error of the service, nor undertake any liability of any kind. Music Trading Network rejects any warranties, including but not limited to the timely, accurate and smooth distribution of the information. Furthermore, Music Trading Network reserves the right to monitor all content on its website in real time and to remove any works in violation of its Agreement at its sole discretion. What's worse, Music Trading Network shall not be liable for any consequences caused by the deletion of a musician's work. All the link address of the works on Music Trading Network are provided by the musicians voluntarily; therefore, the copyright of the works and the authenticity and legality of the content are all responsible by the musicians themselves. Music Trading Network does not provide explicit or implicit guarantee for the copyright of the music products, for the authenticity and legality of the contents, and shall not be liable for any individual/unit's losses caused by the use of the products, including but not limited to direct, indirect, accidental, punitive and secondary losses. As can be seen from the above terms, Music Trading Network does not assume a certain responsibility of music copyright, and music copyright protection has still a long way to go. We argue that Music Trading Network, as an online trading platform for grassroots original music, should assume the corresponding copyright responsibility, which is the guarantee for the sustainable development of original music works and online platforms.
Third, there is a lack of copyright controls. Music Trading Network requires original musicians to make music copyright commitments before publishing their work but does not manage and monitor the copyright in the process of selling the work accordingly. During the period when the original music works are placed for sale on Music Trading Network, netizens can play the works online for free according to the links provided by the works, and some works can even be downloaded directly. Music Trading Network neglect to make corresponding management of the above phenomenon, resulting in widespread infringement. In addition, when online transactions are completed, the ownership of music copyright of the sold grassroots original music works is transferred, but Music Trading Network does not carry out corresponding encryption processing or deletion of the sold music works, which may constitute infringement of the new copyright owners. We argue that the issue of music copyright is worth pondering and needs further refinement.
As Music trading network is one of the original music display platforms, the music copyright problem faced by Music Trading Network is not a special case but a common problem faced by the original music of the network. According to our research, the working mechanism of the music copyright protection platform is shown in Figure 3.
Fig. 3
The working mechanism of the music copyright protection platform
The music copyright protection platform contains four key parts, which are TSA interface, electronic evidence collection interface, intellectual property protection interface and electronic signature interface. The trusted blockchain service is the basic support for open protection platform. All of these parts constitute the working mechanism of the music copyright protection platform. Through the ‘Trusted Time Stamp Copyright Protection Platform System’, we can stamp our own works with credible time stamps for copyright protection, obtain the proof of the existence of the work and the integrity of the content in the first time and confirm the ownership of the digital work, which effectively solves the vast number of copyright owners. In copyright protection, it is difficult to obtain evidence, and it is difficult to maintain its own rights. United Trust and the National Time Service Center have cooperated to build my country's only trusted time stamp service centre, providing copyright holders with trusted time stamp copyright protection and stamping a trusted time stamp on digital works through the system to obtain the existence of the work as soon as possible. The proof of content integrity effectively solves the problems that copyright owners face challenges in obtaining evidence and difficulty in safeguarding their rights in copyright protection. The ‘Trusted Time Stamp Copyright Protection System’ is based on the ‘Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China’ and ‘The Electronic Signature Law of the People's Republic of China’. The Lawyers Association unanimously agrees, after rigorous verification; the Shenzhen Copyright Association, Tencent, 315 Network Rights Defender, Popcorn Original Video Release Center, Witkey China and other well-known websites have provided copyright owners with convenient and effective copyright protection services.
In this paper, we seek the countermeasures to solve the copyright problems of the music trading network in order to promote the healthy development of original music and to promote the relevant original music websites such as Music Trading Network to provide comprehensive copyright protection. In the following, we put forward three measures about music copyright protection.
On the basis of the copyright law, we suggest that the government introduce online music copyright legislation, which clears the rights holders, clears the rights and interests of copyright person, clears the copyright trade, clears the charge standard of the music online download and audio-visual, clears how many different IP addresses is a paid download allowed to copy to (this can refer to the international music copyright system is relatively perfect country) and clears the determination and punishment of infringement (increased penalties act as a deterrent to infringement). The legislative protection of online music copyright reflects the respect for creators and is also the basis for the birth of excellent music works. Meticulous legal basis can better protect music copyright, improve the national awareness of copyright and promote the healthy and sustainable development of online music. With the legal basis, grassroots original musicians and Music Trading Network and other online platforms can better supervise and protect music copyright and promote the prosperity of grassroots original music.
On the basis of improving the online music copyright legislation and cracking down on infringement, the online music consumption awareness should be established, and the charging system should be implemented to promote the formation of the internet music industry. In addition to the public domain of music, works can be free to use, other music copyright works (whether popular music or grassroots original music works); consumers should pay for their own consumption. The government should build a healthy music consumer market and promote the development of online music. The online original music is a part of the online music; the correct processing and protection of the copyright of the internet original music is the effective guarantee of the creative enthusiasm of the creators and is how the fundamental of excellent original music works.
First, the online music platform should strengthen its own construction. We suggest that Music Trading Network should open the function of uploading works, rather than relying on links from other websites. In addition, we also suggest that Music Trading Network should implement the exclusive right to sell works, prevent infringement by others or other online platforms, strengthen the copyright protection of music works and carry out technical development or learn from foreign advanced technology to encrypt online music works to prevent others from stealing and practicing infringement.
Second, we suggest that Music Trading Network should strengthen supervision of music works published on their online platforms. In our opinion, in addition to requiring users to promise that the copyright of published works belongs to them before registration, online platforms should further improve the supervision of music copyright during and after the sale and set up a collective copyright management group. The collective copyright management group should conduct collective management of the copyright of grassroots original music works sold on Music Trading Network. In detail, during the sale process, those who want to buy the music can listen to the pieces of the music for free, while those who want to listen to the whole work need to pay, and downloading is not allowed by using relevant technical means. More importantly, platforms should give music copyright owners a share of their income to ensure the legitimate rights and interests of original musicians. Music Trading Network should promote the music works authorised by the new author, and the fee of clicking and listening should be paid to the new author
Online music platforms should organise technical personnel to develop software to realise the duplication of music works. More importantly, the government should organise voice technology development talents and online music platform talents to develop music verification software similar to those used for paper verification, such as CNKI, VIP and Wanfang, to fundamentally put an end to the infringement of original music works. Make the dissemination of music works just like the publication of a paper, which must be checked before publication, and shall not be published in case of infringement so as to ensure the sustainable development of original music on the internet.
Original online music is a product of the information age, an important part of the ‘Internet +’ economic model, an important embodiment of the development strategy of the party and the country and an important link for mass entrepreneurship and innovation proposed by Premier Li Keqiang.
In recent years, there are more and more lawsuits about music copyright, and Chinese music creators have more and more awareness of copyright protection. The protection of copyright of online original music is part of the healthy and sustainable development of online music; it is also the source power to stimulate the enthusiasm of creators and the symbol of social progress. The copyright protection of original online music cannot be separated from the attention of the state, the perfection of laws, the improvement of public awareness of copyright, the change of music consumption concept, the support of online media and the supervision of relevant departments. We should put the copyright protection of original online music on the agenda, in line with international standards, learn from the successful experience of online music copyright protection in other countries, combined with China's national conditions, and seek a better tomorrow for the development of original online music.