Khanh Don was born in 1982, a famous singer-songwriter in the Vietnamese music industry with many hits. In 2019, he topped the list of 10 musicians with the highest income for copyright published by the Vietnam Music Author Protection Center (VCPMC). In the following years, Khanh Don was in the Top 10.
Many songs composed and arranged by Khanh Don have become "hits" (famous) such as "I am Me", "Make no comments", "Memory Street", "My Paradise", " pieces of the inner heart broken", "Vietnam advance", "Forgetting love", "Farewell to the beloved"...
Khanh Don becoming a musician with a high income from copyright comes from the fact that his songs are aimed at audiences. They listen to it everywhere, from urban to rural areas, creating vitality for the song over the years. Therefore, the more the song is used, the higher it will generate high revenue for the musician.
Thanks to that, Khanh Don has a large fortune in hand, most notably a 1,000m2 resting place in Da Lat, built into a resort. Earlier this year, the male musician gave his wife a villa worth 10 billion VND. The house is named after his wife's nickname Ry. 3 years ago, he gave his wife a car.
Sharing with Lao Dong newspaper reporters, Khanh Don shared his feelings about his income as well as the story of selling song copyrights.
- Earlier this year, you bought a house for 10 billion VND to give to your wife, is that an income from music or from any other field?
- I can say music for me everything, because the money to buy a house, a car to give to my wife is 100% the money from my music, including the money for singing, the money for selling songs and the music copyright.
I am currently doing business in many fields, but because I have only been practicing trading for a few recent years, I am only in the stage of capital recovery, not making a profit. It will be another two years before we reap more sweet fruits from business.
- Singers with hits will earn big from the MV to the show. Can you reveal how many times your income has increased compared to when you first started your career?
- When I first started my career when I was not a success, most of my income was unstable and I was no exception. The salary for singing at that time was only a few hundred thousand dong. I remember going all the way to Vinh Long to do a mini-show in a bar, singing all night earned 800,000 VND, while doing a mini-show in Ho Chi Minh City earned 400,000 VND, selling exclusive songs only earned 5 million VND per song.
But after having a hit song, the show fee or song sales have all increased by dozens of times. So I felt very lucky compared to many of my colleagues.
- Not only a musician, he is also a singer associated with many famous songs. Will the advantage of composing and singing help increase your income?
- As both a musician and a singer, I will have the advantage of bringing my work to the public faster, because I write, sing and release my own products whenever I want. The income is also higher because of that, not depending on finding a suitable singer to give the song, then waiting for that singer to record, film... it will take a long time for the new songs to reach the audience.
- In 2019, he topped the list of 10 musicians with the highest income for copyright published by the Vietnam Music Author Protection Center (VCPMC). In your opinion, is the current income of musicians, in addition to the songwriting and sales fees, also the copyright fee?
- In the past, most musicians lived in difficulty because the money from selling song copyrights to singers was not much. Usually, musicians only get money once when selling cards, so their income is very unstable. Because sometimes there are, sometimes there are not, so selling songs is almost not the main income.
Since the rise of digital platforms, musicians have had copyright revenue from many sources such as Youtube, Facebook, Tiktok, music concerts, etc. If the author authorizes the collection companies, they will pay the musicians every 3 months, so now I see that musicians have a fairly stable source of income.
- In your opinion, when selling the copyright of a song to an exclusive singer, will the musician still receive the copyright fee for that song when the singer sings on different programs?
- As for me, when selling song rights to singers, in addition to the song sales, musicians will receive the song's copyright fee, from any place that uses that song such as Youtube channels, Facebook, Tiktok... according to Vietnamese and international copyright laws.
Exclusive sales will usually have a certain period of time, 2-3 years or 5 years. During the exclusive period, the singer has the right to exploit the rights, after that time the two sides will work again.
- Thank you for sharing.
