BMI Pacts with CRC for Representation of Vast Catalog of Chinese Music

Posted in News on January 30, 2005

BMI has reached an agreement to represent the performing rights to a vast catalog of Chinese music that has never been exposed to world markets.

Pictured (l-r) are CRC's Jianxiong Zeng, Xiaoqing Wang and Xiaolin Yang; Music Copyright Society of China's Ping Wang; BMI Senior Vice President, International, Ron Solleveld; the Chinese Ministry of Culture's Xiaoyoung Li and Tong Chen; BMI President & CEO Del Bryant; CRC Jianian Chairman Xiaoping Li; BMI consultant Frances W. Preston; CRC Jianian President Frank Mayor; CRC Jianian's Peter Jansson and Jackie Subeck; Greenberg Traurig's Mark Jacobsen; and CRC Jianian's Nana Lee and Jun Hou.

The agreement was signed between CRC Jianian Cultural Development, a company charged with exploiting to the world the publishing and mechanical rights of the state-controlled China Record Corp. CRC Jianian also will manage the use of Western copyrights in China. The BMI agreement marks the first time any of the songs have been registered with any performing rights society in the world.

CRC Jianian Chairman Xiaoping Li, CRC Jianian's Peter Jansson, BMI Consultant Frances W. Preston, CRC Jianian President Frank Mayor, BMI President & CEO Del Bryant, the Chinese Ministry of Culture's Tong Chen

The CRC catalog includes 65,000 albums and 757,000 individual musical compositions spanning 4,000 years of Chinese musical history, ranging from Chinese opera and folk songs to national orchestras and contemporary rock and pop material. It also includes film music, including material from the international hits “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” “In The Mood For Love” and “Farewell My Concubine.”

BMI President and CEO Del Bryant expressed enthusiasm over the growth potential for Chinese composers in the U.S. “We're extremely pleased that BMI was chosen to represent the performing rights of the [CRC] in the United States," said Bryant. "The explosion of interest in Chinese music and culture in our country is self-evident and presents enormous possibilities for the dynamic growth in the exploitation of works by Chinese composers here in the U.S. . . . We hope that this will also foster an understanding that the rights of American composers should be appropriately protected in China,” Bryant said, “and we look forward to working with our new partners to fully develop these new business traditions.”

Bryant also indicated that former BMI President Frances W. Preston, now serving as a consultant to BMI, would, due to her extensive travel in China and understanding of its culture, serve as the primary contact in the ongoing relationship with CRC.

SOURCENews TAGS Country Folk Pop Rock International Artists Del Bryant