Tuoi Tre newspaper has recently become the first newspaper to sign an agreement with MV Joint Stock Corporation, the representative of the Recording Industry Association of Vietnam (RIAV), to charge its readers for downloading music from its online publications.

Under the deal, Tuoi Tre’s online editions, including m.tuoitre.vn, tuoitre.vn and tv.tuoitre.vn will charge their readers VND1,000 to download a 320kbps song from 100 albums provided by RIAV.

Currently, readers accessing m.tuoitre.vn can listen to those 100 albums for free, but cannot download the songs until the paid music scheme is officially launched.

As of November 1, in an effort to combat music copyright violations in the country, seven online music websites have started charging users for downloading songs from RIAV’s 100 albums. However, the complicated payment methods, as well as the fact that all remaining songs that aren’t on RIAV’s albums are still offered for free, have confused many users.