MACA visits ICM to exchange views on the direction of development of music copyright management in Macau

       (Macao, March 16, 2017) - Four representatives from Macau Association of Composers, Authors & Publishers (MACA), including CEO UNG Kuoc Iang, Musical Affairs & Public Relations Manager Vivian KAM, Event Planning & Membership Officer Sonny LAI and MACA representative, visited Cultural Affairs Bureau (ICM) on 16 March, and were received by Vice-President CHAN Peng Fai, Head of The Department for Promoting Cultural and Creative Industries (Substitute) HO Hong Pan, and Senior Officer Frankie HO.

    Vice-President of ICM, CHAN Peng Fai welcomed the MACA representatives, and expressed happiness to see MACA increasingly gaining recognition and support from different government departments and social institutions ever since its establishment, he also gives affirmation to MACA's work. CHAN views that beside the practitioners within the industry, there is a need to promote more copyright knowledge to the public in Macau, he also expresses concern over the events that MACA organises. CHAN also pointed out that ICM will always support the promotion of copyright knowledge and the protection of intellectual property rights and will not change its stance.

       At the meeting, MACA CEO UNG Kuoc Iang, briefed on MACA’s annual events and mentioned about the recent "Macau Copyright Campus Tour", that MACA is fortunate that the tour is generously supported by Macao Customs Service (SA) and Macao Economic Services (DSE), allowing the tour to run smoothly. The organizers will put display panels at various schools in Macau during the tour, using simple and interesting storyboard to introduce to students about the importance of intellectual property rights and music copyright, starting from the schools, to deepen the new generation’s understanding of copyright knowledge, the duration of the tour is over a year. In addition, MACA is about to have its 10th anniversary since establishment, there will be a series of related events, and focus on planning cooperation with Portuguese music creators for culture exchange, giving full play to the function of Macau as a platform for Portuguese-speaking countries, to lay the foundation for the friendly cooperation between China and Portugal. Later on, UNG described the current situation of music public performance licensing in Macau, he views that the main problem that MACA faces currently is the public broadcasting service in Macau, the two sides have yet to reach a consensus. It is hoped that the agreement of music public performance license will be reached in the coming year. Finally, UNG presented the MACA albums to ICM.