World Media Economics and Management Conference 2016

Based on the Hui Peng’s method, this paper measured the index of copyright protection strength in 36 countries and regions between 2008 and 2010. Econometric models were established to analyse the relationship between the strength and the music industry, and recommendations for the music industry in China were proposed through the international comparison. This research found that the copyright protection strength had a positive correlation with the sales per capita of physical music but a negative correlation with the sales per capita of digital music. Although the development of music industry depends on a robust mechanism in copyright protection, it was recommended that the governing body in China should implement a moderately loose policy to motivate innovation and competition in the short term and gradually improve the strength of copyright protection in the long term.