Chinese music producer Gao Xiaosong announced Tuesday that the music industry faces "earth-shaking" changes as free online downloading will end after July 1.
"Various record labels, music websites and the government are all doing the tail-end of the work. The Chinese online music market will step into an era of legal copies." Gao said at a launch ceremony for the Top Chinese Music Awards, which will take place in April.
The deadline was confirmed by Wang Changtian, president of Enlight Media, a Beijing-based entertainment company on the Chinese mainland.
The amended law, adopted in January, means stricter punishment to copyright infringers and offers musicians and their original work better protection of rights.
In China, there are 400 million Internet users listening to and downloading online music, mostly for free.
According to China Audio & Video Association statistics, the country's 2012 music copyright market was valued at more than 40 billion yuan ($6.4 billion). However, actual copyright revenue only amounted to 800 million yuan.