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Dec 10, 2009
Illegal download of 10,000 songs
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A Malaysian bistro owner faces a fine of up to RM20 million (S$8 million) for loading 10,000 foreign and local songs into his karaoke set. --ST PHOTO: WANG HUI FEN
PENANG - A MALAYSIAN bistro owner faces a fine of up to RM20 million (S$8 million) for loading 10,000 foreign and local songs into his karaoke set. The 49-year-old man, who opened his bistro just two months ago, was nabbed by the Penang branch of the Domestic Trade, Co-operative and Consumerism Ministry on Wednesday. If convicted, he can be fined up to RM2,000 for each song loaded into the karaoke set or jailed up to five years, or both. Enforcement chief M. Gunaselan said a karaoke set worth RM50,000 was also seized from the bistro at Jalan Todak. He said the raid was conducted following complaints from both the Recording Industry Association of Malaysia (RIM) and Public Performance Malaysia Sdn Bhd, adding that it had carried out 55 raids and arrested 38 individuals for such offences so far this year. RIM chief executive officer Tan Ngiap Foo said some 3,000 pubs, lounges, cafes and restaurants in the country were using pirated karaoke songs in their premises, causing the music industry to lose at least RM60 million in revenue annually. 'We'll also look into the problem of loading songs into handphones, of which 90 per cent are pirated copies given to the handphone buyers,' he said. Tan said some karaoke digital systems with more than 10,000 songs uploaded were also being sold for a mere RM5,000. -- THE STAR
Home > Breaking News > SE Asia > Story
Dec 10, 2009
Illegal download of 10,000 songs
<!-- end left side bar -->
A Malaysian bistro owner faces a fine of up to RM20 million (S$8 million) for loading 10,000 foreign and local songs into his karaoke set. --ST PHOTO: WANG HUI FEN
PENANG - A MALAYSIAN bistro owner faces a fine of up to RM20 million (S$8 million) for loading 10,000 foreign and local songs into his karaoke set. The 49-year-old man, who opened his bistro just two months ago, was nabbed by the Penang branch of the Domestic Trade, Co-operative and Consumerism Ministry on Wednesday. If convicted, he can be fined up to RM2,000 for each song loaded into the karaoke set or jailed up to five years, or both. Enforcement chief M. Gunaselan said a karaoke set worth RM50,000 was also seized from the bistro at Jalan Todak. He said the raid was conducted following complaints from both the Recording Industry Association of Malaysia (RIM) and Public Performance Malaysia Sdn Bhd, adding that it had carried out 55 raids and arrested 38 individuals for such offences so far this year. RIM chief executive officer Tan Ngiap Foo said some 3,000 pubs, lounges, cafes and restaurants in the country were using pirated karaoke songs in their premises, causing the music industry to lose at least RM60 million in revenue annually. 'We'll also look into the problem of loading songs into handphones, of which 90 per cent are pirated copies given to the handphone buyers,' he said. Tan said some karaoke digital systems with more than 10,000 songs uploaded were also being sold for a mere RM5,000. -- THE STAR