Businesses in several Chinese cities now pay for use of copyrighted music in China. Shanghai is one of them, but due to the complicated nature of the issue, work has progressed slowly in the past three years.

Fang says Beijing has more than 200 hotels that are paying for playing music.

In Hohhot, capital of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, there are only a dozen star hotels, but all pay the fees, she said.

The number of lawsuits over copyrights -- including music copyrights -- has jumped as people's awareness of music copyrights has grown, experts point out.

Yet many people still do not know enough about the issue, and why they should pay for the right to play such music.

Zhao Renrong, from the Shanghai branch of the CHTA, said hotels are not reluctant to pay. "The key lies in explaining to them the law. They did not know there was such a legal item."

According to China's current Copyright Law, the term "copyright" includes the right of performance by various means.

MCSC's Shanghai office revealed that they will make further efforts to contact department with regard to the copyright of the music played there.

Airline companies, trains and long-distance buses should also pay if they play music during their operations, she explained. "So far, Shanghai Airlines pays for that," she said.

MCSC has started to collect fees from entertainment venues in Shanghai since 2001. It did that together with the Shanghai Municipal Association of Cultural and Entertainment