Copyright Act protects the rights of singer under Indian Copyright Act

Over the last couple of months, Delhi High Court has passed two orders which, if executed in letter and spirit, could change the way bars and caffs use music — live or recorded — to entertain patrons.

On August 12, Justice S Muralidhar ruled that a South Delhi eatery had violated the “ inalienable Right to Receive Royalty( R3) ” of players by playing their songs “ without carrying Rights Clearance Certificate ”, and asked the “ defendant to render to the complainant the accounts of all the moneybags earned by it from the performance of the force of the players ”. On September 30, Justice V Kameswar Rao passed analogous orders against a chesterfield bar in North Delhi. Both cases were filed by Indian vocalizers ’ Rights Association( ISRA), a body of 290 vocalizers, which has Lata Mangeshkar, Sonu Nigam, Alka Yagnik, Kumar Sanu and Pankaj Udhas on its Board of Directors.

What rights does a songster have over his or her music? What do the orders of the High Court mean for the playing of similar music in marketable establishments?

What are Singer’s Right?

Section 38 of the Copyright Act, 1957, as amended in 2012, recognizes “ Performer’s Rights’ ‘ of the songster of a commercially recorded song for 50 times from the “ morning of the timetable time next following the time in which the performance is made ”. During this period, the performance, or “ a substantial part thereof ”, can not be recorded, reproduced, broadcast or communicated without the Performer’s concurrence. Players( which includes vocalizers) have the Right to Admit kingliness( R3) in case their performances are commercially utilized. While a songster can subscribe over the rights to a song to a patron/ third party, R3 for the song can not be given over. This means that formerly a songster has recorded an original song, everyone except the patron/ brand holder needs to get authorization and pay kingliness to perform it in public.

Players( vocalizers) can, under the Copyright Act, certify their R3 to Copyright Societies to administer their right, i.e., issue licenses and collect kingliness on their behalf. ISRA, a registered Brand Society under the Copyright Act, was formed to produce tariff rules, and to collect and distribute royalties to Players. The utmost marketable players in the Indian film and music industry are its members, and ISRA can take legal action on their behalf for violation of brand. Any person making marketable use of a performance must gain a “ Pantomime’s Rights Clearance Certificate ” from ISRA and pay royalties.

And what exactly is “ marketable utilization ” of a performance?

It includes both live performance of a song, as well as the playing of recordings( using CDsetc.). In effect, all marketable performances playing music in an eatery, or over the radio/ television/ Internet, in shops, hospitals, airfields or caffs , or by Anchorpeople at marketable events, or on any other marketable platform — are included. Organizers of sports events similar to the IPL, where music is played for general entertainment, must pay kingliness or license fees at the rate of Re 1 per seat calculated on total capacity base. Under Section 39 of the amended Brand Act, the Performer’s Right isn’t infringed only in cases of private use, tutoring and exploration.

Who decided these brand charges?

ISRA did, soon after it was created. The tariff rates and distribution scheme were communicated to the Copyright Office under the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development. According to ISRA Managing Director Sanjay Tandon, the Copyright Act gives Pantomime, as the proprietor of the brand, the power to decide tariff rates. Anyone who objects can challenge the rates before the Copyright Board or High Court. The rates, available on the ISRA web point, cover all types of public performances — at public events, caffs , clubs, promenades, shops, cotillion seminaries, and indeed on board marketable vehicles similar to motorcars and hacks.

So, rigorously speaking, an eatery cannot be playing copyrighted music?

An eatery is a public space using music for marketable purposes, and needs to pay kingliness to the Pantomime. It needs to get a No- Objection Certificate from ISRA, and pay the price of “ the least priced drink on the menu card ” per day to each songster whose song it plays. Therefore, if an eatery at which the cheapest beer costs, say, Rs 200, plays Sonu Nigam’s Deewana tera every evening of the time, it has to pay the songster an periodic kingliness of Rs,000.

The HC’s August order came in response to ISRA’s suit against Delhi’s Chapter 25 bar and eatery. The solicitation cited, as a sample, songs being played in the eatery for two hours without carrying the Clearance Certificate or paying kingliness, which, the court noted, “ constitutes a violation of the R3 of the members of the Plaintiff Society ”. The court directed the eatery to stop playing music until it had attained concurrence, and to produce accounts of the plutocrat earned from the performance of the songs, so that the pretenses of the ISRA members could be calculated.

Any public performance of a song, indeed at a public event which doesn’t charge a price of admission, needs an NOC from ISRA, and payment of royalties. In fact, under brand law, the brand rests with the Patron, the musician, as well as the Pantomime. And, according to rules created by the Brand Societies, royalties are due to all three, and NOCs may be needed for a performance from the proprietor Societies.

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What other actions has ISRA initiated?

According to Advocate Pravin Anand, whose law establishment Anand & Anand represents ISRA, the Society has issued nearly 750 claim letters since its creation in 2012 to caffs , hospices, product houses, radio stations, television channels, mobile drivers, web spots, MC events, and sporting events. The end so far has been to educate and also collect royalties for vocalizers, as it’s a new right that has come into effect only from July 21, 2012 ”, Anand says. piecemeal from the two cases decided by the Delhi High Court in August and September, ISRA had, in April, initiated a suit against the use of copyrighted music at IPL matches. The High court had issued an instruction against the use of songs belonging to ISRA members, following which IPL organizers and platoon possessors agreed to pay tariffs. Still, lords XI Punjab queried ISRA’s claim to royalties, and the suit is now listed to be heard by a marketable bench of the High Court in December.