Page 293 - A Study on the Role of UGC Platforms in Copyright Law：An Intermediary-oriented Approach

A Study on the Role of UGC Platforms in Copyright Law: Appendix 6 Interview Record (Participant E)
An Intermediary-oriented Approach

Participant E: There is a function named “inserting music”. You only need to provide the
name of the song and WeChat will automatically insert this song from QQ music.
Huang: The default source is QQ music?
Participant E: Yes, QQ music and you cannot choose others.
Huang: What if the song I need cannot be found in QQ music?
Participant E: er…It seems that this has not happened yet. If you really want to insert music
from other sources, such as Netease Cloud Music, you can only insert them in the video
and then post the whole video on the account.
Huang: QQ music is unavailable in Hong Kong. There would be a banner indicating that the
copyright policy disallow you to play the music.
Participant E: It seems that QQ music has bought the copyright in the Mainland.

Huang: Now we do not want to ask for permission because it is too much troublesome.
Sometimes we do not even know who the copyright owner is. If the law does not require
ex-ante permission and just need ex-post payment, will you agree?
Participant E: (Think for a while) I may not agree. After all, I use the music for non-
commercial purpose . The purpose of using music is to amuse my audience. But I do not
make money from it.
Huang: Recently the subscription industry in Mainland has quickly developed. More and
more people would like to pay for the film or music they like. What do you think of this
phenomenon?
Participant E: Yes, I think paying for songs is acceptable. A song is not expensive, about
several yuan. If it is my favorite song, I would like to pay for it. But as for TV series,
I think it is more difficult since TV series are very long and is difficult to calculate the
fees.
Huang: Nowadays many website have adopted a membership system. For instance in
YouKu, by paying 20 yuan per month, you can watch all the resources free of charge and
enjoy free advertising, HD and other services. Do you think it makes sense?
Participant E: I think it is. Some people are willing to spend money to pursue a better
experience.

Huang: Do you have involved in secondary creation? That is, utilize others’ elements to
create new work?
Participant E: Yes. We once danced to a song in a party. We made this song by combining the
climax of seven other songs. The song lasted for three minutes.
Huang: When you made this sampling, have you ever thought of asking for permission?
Participant E: Honestly speaking, we haven’t since we have not learn intellectual property
right. But I guess we will not think of permission issue even after learning the intellectual
property law.

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