Musically yours: Vietnamese composers, singers and other stakeholders in the music industry are being invited to work with the newly launched VAB platform to market and sell their works. Photo from the VAB’s facebook

HCM CITY — A new ecommerce platform is inviting Vietnamese music industry stakeholders to market and sell their creations on it.

The platform, VAB (Vietnam Artist Booking) launched last week, looks to gather musicians, composers, singers and music producers to introduce, sell and buy their products. 

It aims to develop a comprehensive range of services, using a variety of databases and licensing systems that “will satisfy the needs of both copyright owners and music users.” 

The platform updates photos of and information about authors, their career and works. This allows copyright organisations nationwide to access relevant information.

“We are working to encourage music artists, listeners and internet users to focus on ecommerce platforms to introduce, promote, sell and buy music products,” said singer- musician Lưu Quang Minh, VAB creative director. 

Minh said VAB was working with audio streaming platforms and video sharing and social media networks such as  Spotify, TikTok, YouTube and Facebook to improve its business.

“We have cooperated with the Việt Nam Music Copyright Protection Centre to protect singers, songwriters and composers from copyright infringement,” he said. 

The centre is the country’s first organisation of its kind. It has attracted more than 4,600 members nationwide and has signed more than 1,700 contracts with music producers and entertainment companies. It has collected VNĐ37 billion (US$1.6 million) in royalties for registered composers and songwriters in the second quarter of the year 2022. The amount of royalties collected came mostly from the use of online MVs and CDs, and music websites. 

It has also collected and paid royalties to nearly 3 million foreign citizens and foreign organisations through its foreign counterparts. 

“The local industry has developed more quickly due to the growth of digital music companies and online music sites,” said Minh.

The VAB platform can be accessed at https://vab.vn. — VNS