HANOI, June 27 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam has ensured stronger protection of music copyright, reducing violations and bringing bigger amounts of money to authors, local media reported on Wednesday.

"I think protecting music copyright in the past few years has helped considerably to reduce violations, created trust among authors encouraging them to compose, and created a healthy and fair playground bringing profits to both creators and users," daily newspaper Vietnam News quoted composer Dinh Trung Can, general director of the Vietnam Center for Protecting Music Copyright, as saying.

Over the past 16 years, the center has used the money collected to pay back to authors. It pays Vietnamese and international artists every quarter.

"In our first year in 2002, we got only 78 million Vietnamese dong (3,400 U.S. dollars) from copyright. In 2017, we got 200 billion Vietnamese dong (8.8 million U.S. dollars)," he said.

The number of the center's members has also increased over the years, together with that of music works added to the center's stock. Nearly 4,000 authors have registered for the center's membership from the initial number of 274 composers.

The center also acts as a representative of foreign composers in Vietnam to manage and utilize copyright in the country.