China to Get Country Music Hall, Copyright Deal

BEIJING —  A group of Chinese and U.S. business executives signed an agreement Friday to protect copyrights for live music performances and unveiled plans to set up China’s first country music hall, a representative said.

Copyright protection in China threatens to spark a trade war between it and the United States.

The Buffalo Saloon, set up by the Sino-American Cultural Consortium, will hold live performances by U.S. country music stars and pay royalties on all country music singles it plays, consortium official Shen Jian said.

“Every three months we will declare what music we are planning to play and what performances we will have,” Shen said. “Then we will pay royalties to the foreign composers.”

Other entertainment venues in China, such as the ubiquitous karaoke bars, do not pay royalties on the music they play, Shen said.

“We have been given a license that allows us to play mechanical and live music, the first such license in China,” Shen said.

The $2-million venture, to open in October, is being paid for by U.S. members of the consortium who want to bring American culture to China, Shen said.

“We want to emphasize active participation, get foreigners and local Chinese to connect through country music and line dancing,” Shen said. “The point isn’t so much to make money as it is to introduce Chinese people to American culture. We would like to offer a sampling of American home cooking.”

Washington announced $2 billion worth of trade sanctions against China to take effect June 17 for what it said is its failure to meet conditions of an agreement between the two countries signed in February 1995 to curb theft of music, films and computer software.

China retaliated with its own list of sanctions. But on Friday, the Chinese government appeared to be attempting to resolve the issue before the deadline, ordering police to investigate six factories believed to be manufacturing pirated compact discs, videos and computer software.