Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Utada Hikaru has recently come out against the JASRAC trying to charge copyright fees to music schools for using songs.
The Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers, known as the JASRAC, revealed a new policy to start charging copyright fees to Yamaha, Kawai and other music schools. The new policy would affect thousands of music schools across Japan, beginning January of next year. This proposal has gathered growing disapproval from students, teachers, and even Hikaru Utada.
もし学校の授業で私の曲を使いたいっていう先生や生徒がいたら、著作権料なんか気にしないで無料で使って欲しいな。https://t.co/34ocEwCj8K
— 宇多田ヒカル (@utadahikaru) February 4, 2017
“If you are a teacher or student who wants to use my songs for classes, I want you to use them for free without worrying about copyright.”
The motivation for the change is, of course, money.
A provision will be submitted to the Agency for Cultural Affairs in July and plans are to take effect in January. The copyright fee is estimated to be 2.5% of the annual tuition income, creating about 1 to 2 billion yen in charges each year.
Protecting artists in Japan is now basically just about bullying everybody around and extracting every last drop of money they can.
Great.
