Jacky Supports the Royalties Movement: New Album Affected, Upsets God of Song Source: Mingpao Translation: llwy12 @ http://asianfanatics.net TVB’s dispute with HKRIA over the royalties issue has jeopardized the relationship between the TV station and the 4 record companies. Jacky Cheung (as a Universal artist) has indicated that the dispute has not affected him too much overall, however upon mention of his new album being released at the end of the month, he couldn’t help but say “it upsets me!” [referring to release of new album possibly being affected] The royalties issue has caused TVB to ban all of Universal’s artists – even Jacky, HK’s God of Song, is no exception. So far, the only artist not banned by TVB is Harlem Yu. Several nights ago, when Harlem was rehearsing for his upcoming concert with musical guest and best friend Jacky at HK Coliseum, TVB did send their reporters to the site to report the event, however they only interviewed Harlem. To avoid awkwardness, TVB’s reporters arrived at the site and reported on the rehearsal along with the reports from other stations, however they left the site right after reporting. Then, after Jacky left, TVB’s reporters returned to the rehearsal site to interview Harlem. With regard to artists from the 4 big record companies all being affected by the royalties dispute, Jacky indicated that he didn’t have much of a problem – one, because he is no longer an “active” singer in the industry and two, he has not attended HK’s music awards ceremonies in years. However, when he was reminded that his new album will be coming out at the end of the month, Jacky said: “I’m not a very active singer in the industry anymore, though I will be releasing an album soon…it upsets me a little. The album comes out at the end of January, which is definitely a “sensitive” time. [referring to the dispute not resolved yet]. But this is a big deal for the company and we are all in this together – I can’t disassociate myself from it.” Jacky also said that even if he can’t promote his album at the TV stations (TVB), he can promote it at the various radio stations – since he is a “free” artist (not contracted), it doesn’t really matter where he goes (to promote his album). Asked if he will promote his album at ATV or i-Cable (TVB’s 2 main competitors), Jacky said he will leave that up to the record company (Universal). When asked about what he thinks about TVB taking legal action and wanting to settle the royalties issue with HKRIA in court, Jacky said: “Should be able to settle it…depends on whether it’s reasonable or not, if it’s not reasonable, what’s the point?” How about Hins Cheung saying that this (the royalties issue) is a movement for the rights of musicians and artists everywhere? Jacky’s response: “I believe so. Usually, very few people are willing to speak up, so since someone was brave enough to speak up, we should support it. I feel that TV stations (referring to TVB) shouldn’t stand so firm on the issue – even though they are a large, publicly traded company, I’m sure the shareholders would understand that they are just trying to do what they need to do.” After this comment, Jacky quickly added: “I don’t know….if I were in charge, this issue would be so easy to resolve!”
