Lin Shu-hui previously wrote for the Taipei Times: “Music and Buddhist chants during funerals are usually provided by the funeral homes, mostly using a gadget called the Electric Buddhism Sutra Player or music CDs.” Read more here.
A life band playing during a traditional ceremony can be seen as a public performance.
Article 7bis Taiwan’s Copyright Law 2008: A performance by a performer of a pre-existing work or folklore shall be protected as an independent work. Protection of a performance shall not affect the copyright in the pre-existing work.
And relating to the CDs: according to article 5 (8) Taiwan’s Copyright Law 2008, sound recordings are copyrighted works.
What about Buddhist chants that are played via a CD or an Electric Buddhism Sutra Player, which is a device that plays a sutra (teaching of the Buddha) continuously by going in a loop, and is often given away for free at Buddhist temples. Even thought the music and lyrics are not copyrighted (read more about Buddhism in relation to IP in Zen and the Art of Intellectual Property), the performance of the work is (article 7bis Taiwan’s Copyright Law 2008).
According to Wang Mei-hua, director general of the Taiwan government’s Intellectual Property Office these conflicts between studios and funeral companies signal that it is difficult to find a right compensation. She also pointed out that to collect copyright fees at the popular Karaoke bars is complex in Taiwan, because the island has five (I count 6) copyright collecting societies:
- Music Copyright Association of Taiwan (MCAT);
- Music Copyright Intermediary Society of Chinese Taipei (MUST);
- Music Copyright Intermediary Society of Taiwan (TMCS);
- Audiovisual Music Copyright Owner Association (AMCO);
- Association of Recording Copyright Owners of ROC (ARCO);
- Recording Copyright & Publications Administrative Society of Chinese Taipei (RPAT).