Performers' rights — moral and economic rights
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A performer always keeps moral rights, but who holds the economic rights turns on who funded the performance.
Performers — actors, singers, musicians, dancers — present a work to the public. They did not write it, so their right is not copyright but a related right standing beside it. Article 29 of the IP Law divides their rights into moral and economic rights.
Moral rights — never transferable
A performer always keeps two moral rights, whoever funds the production: to be identified when performing, when the recording is released or the performance broadcast, and to the integrity of the performance image — no one may edit, cut or distort it in a way that harms the performer's honour or reputation.
Practical consequence: a producer may buy every economic right in a performance, yet still cannot splice the voice or image in a way that damages the artist.
Economic rights — who funded the performance decides
This is the part people most often get wrong. Article 29(1) provides: if the performer is also the investor — paying for the venue, crew and recording themselves — they hold both moral and economic rights. If not, the performer keeps moral rights while the investor holds the economic rights.
In short, whoever pays decides who may exploit. An artist who performs under contract for an event organiser usually falls in the second group: they are paid, and the recording and release rights belong to the funder unless the contract says otherwise.
The economic rights are the exclusive rights to do or authorise: (1) fixing the live performance in a recording; (2) reproducing the fixed performance directly or indirectly; (3) broadcasting or communicating to the public an unfixed performance, except where the performance is itself intended for broadcast; and (4) distributing to the public the original and copies by sale, rental or any technical means.
Remuneration
Article 29(4) requires anyone exploiting those economic rights to pay the performer remuneration as provided by law or by agreement. This matters to artists who have transferred their economic rights: the transfer does not by itself erase the user's duty to pay, unless the parties agreed otherwise.
Term
Performers' rights run 50 years from the year following the year the performance was fixed (Article 34), ending at 24:00 on 31 December of the final year.
Registration and cost
The right arises automatically on fixation; registration is evidentiary only. The fee for a certificate covering a performance fixed in a sound recording is VND 200,000.
Common mistakes
Assuming an artist owns their own recording. A singer who records for a label usually does not own that recording — the label is the investor and the owner of the economic rights. The artist keeps moral rights and the right to agreed remuneration.
Assuming re-performing a song is enough "clearance" to use the original recording. Clearing the composer only resolves the copyright layer. To use another artist's recording you must also clear the performer and the producer — see the related-rights overview.