The organizers of the BlackPink show in Hanoi had to pay nearly 10 billion VND in copyright fees.

The licensing fee for BlackPink's two concerts is nearly 10 billion VND.

On July 21st, a meeting took place between the Vietnam Copyright Protection Center for Music (VCPMC) and IME Music Company Limited (hereinafter referred to as IME Company - the organizer of the BlackPink show) regarding the implementation of copyright for the BlackPink performance.

Minutes of the meeting between IME Vietnam Company and VCPMC on July 21st.

However, to date, the two sides have not reached an agreement. In the meeting minutes, the representative of IME Vietnam stated that the company is in discussions with YG (BlackPink's management company) to obtain the necessary documents, but they are not yet complete.

The company wants to discuss royalties and find a way to reach a mutually agreeable solution. Meanwhile, VCPMC wants IME Company to compile specific ticket prices to arrive at the most accurate calculation.

Based on that, VCPMC proposed the following options:

Option 1 is to calculate using the following rate: 5% x 60% of capacity (40,000 tickets) x average ticket price.

Option two is 5% of the total revenue from 20,000 tickets.

Option three is: 20,000 tickets x ticket price x 5%.

These options have not yet been agreed upon by the organizers of the BlackPink show.

Minutes of the meeting between IME Vietnam and VCPMC on July 26th.

During the meeting on July 26th, the two sides continued to discuss this issue.

IME Company presented the difficulties and obstacles encountered in preparing for the performance, including legal procedures, dealing with state management agencies, and preparing the stage, sound, and lighting.

BlackPink's Born Pink concert in Hanoi is scheduled to take place over two nights, July 29th and 30th, at My Dinh National Stadium. Currently, the team, including dancers, technical staff, and band, has arrived in Hanoi and is ready for the show.

This resulted in delays in contacting VCPMC to finalize the implementation plan for the program's copyright.

Representatives from IME Company hope that VCPMC will share and understand the reason for this delay.

After reporting to the leadership, IME Company unanimously chose option 2: 5% x total revenue of 20,000 tickets.

The option chosen by IME Company is calculated as follows: 5% x (average ticket price x performance capacity of 20,000 tickets), which is 5% x (5,350,000 x 20,000) VND.

Therefore, IME Company has to pay 5.35 billion VND for one night's performance and 10.7 billion VND for two nights of BlackPink's performances in Hanoi.

Subsequently, representatives from IME Company proposed that VCPMC help reduce the copyright fees for the two nights of performances, and VCPMC representatives agreed to support a reduction of 10-15% of the total value of the two nights of performances.

Therefore, the copyright fees for BlackPink's two concerts, after receiving support, were reduced to between 9.095 billion VND and 9.630 billion VND.

Finally, VCPMC requested IME Company to report the finalized contract agreement before 3 PM on July 26th.

On the afternoon of July 27th, VCPMC sent a document requesting the revocation of BlackPink's performance license in Vietnam.

Immediately after receiving the above document from VCPMC, the Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports held a meeting with several relevant units regarding this issue.

However, VCPMC must provide evidence of violations by the organizing entity in order to revoke the license.

A representative from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism confirmed that they had received the document from VCPMC and would request relevant units to provide explanations as requested by VCPMC.

Vietnamese companies are complaining bitterly about VCPMC's copyright calculation methods.

Regarding the disagreement over copyright fees for ticketed concerts proposed by VCPMC, seven music production companies in Vietnam recently submitted a petition to the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Ministry of Finance, the Copyright Office, and the Vietnam Musicians Association, requesting clarification on VCPMC's copyright fee calculation.

Following the controversy between the organizers of BlackPink's show in Vietnam and VCPMC, many music production companies in Vietnam disagree with VCPMC's method of calculating copyright fees.

In their petition, the seven organizations stated that in 2018, VCPMC issued Decision No. 14/QD-TTBVQTGANVN (hereinafter referred to as Decision No. 14), on the promulgation of the Schedule of Royalties for the Use of Music Copyright.

The aforementioned units argue that this decision introduces an unreasonable calculation formula that is not in line with the country's economic development situation.

Specifically, seven entities stated that VCPMC unilaterally issued the calculation form without widely consulting with affected parties. The formula provided by VCPMC is: 5% x 70% of the number of seats x average ticket price.

"With this calculation method, VCPMC has deliberately pushed royalty fees too high compared to developed countries."

For example: A music program at the National Convention Center (3,500 seats), with an average ticket price of approximately 1.8 million VND and 20 songs performed, the fee would be calculated as follows: 5% x (3,500 x 70%) x 1,800,000 VND = 220,500,000 VND.

Thus, the organizing unit will have to pay VCPMC approximately over 10,000,000 VND/song in royalties, an increase of 25 times compared to the royalties that VCPMC and the organizing units had agreed upon in previous contracts, which was 440,000 VND/song (including VAT)," the petition from 7 Vietnamese companies clearly states.

Based on these issues, the seven aforementioned units petitioned the authorities to request VCPMC to revoke Decision No. 14.

At the same time, we propose that the competent State agency issue a legal document specifying a music copyright fee schedule that is appropriate to the socio-economic situation, ensuring the rights of all relevant parties in collecting fees and royalties for the use of works, and creating conditions for organizations/individuals to fulfill their copyright fee obligations in accordance with regulations.

After 20 years of establishment (2002-2021), VCPMC reported that it had collected 1,063.2 billion VND in copyright fees for music authors.

In the latest development, the Ministry of Interior has confirmed that it has received a petition from seven music program production companies in Vietnam.

The Ministry of Interior has forwarded the petition to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Inspection Committee of the Vietnam Musicians Association for consideration and resolution of the aforementioned issue.

Currently, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Inspection Committee of the Vietnam Musicians Association have not yet responded.

Source: http://www.baogiaothong.vn/btc-show-blackpink-tai-ha-noi-phai-tra-gan-10-ty-dong-tien-phi-ban-quyen-d598765.html