KUALA LUMPUR, March 9 (Bernama) -- Kuala Lumpur has been chosen by the Societies Council for the Collective Management of Performers Rights (SCAPR) to host the first Asian Performers Rights Conference.

The two-day conference is scheduled for March 23, at a hotel here.

Malaysian Performers and Artistes Rights (Prism) chairman Aziz Bakar said artistes from some 20 Asian countries and five European countries had confirmed their participation.

They included artistes from Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Pakistan, India, Sweden and France, he told Bernama in an interview, here Wednesday.

SCAPR was founded in Oslo, Norway, in 2001 to develop bilateral relations between the performers' rights organisations to ensure that performers receive remuneration due to them both internationally and nationally.

Its secretariat is based in Stockholm, Sweden.

Aziz said SCAPR accepted Malaysia as its member last year, the second country in Asia, after Japan, to join its ranks.

SCAPR also wanted to make Malaysia a coordinating country in Asia because of its seriousness in fighting for the rights of artistes.

Prism general manager Ong Peng Chu said the conference was to raise awareness of performers rights which had not been given much attention in Asia, including Hong Kong, one of the most successful in the music industry.

Prism now has 500 members and also represents over 85,000 international artistes with dealings in Malaysia.