[cr-india] FM radio, music industry out of tune on royalty

Sun Dec 21 14:04:31 IST 2008

Here's the latest on the battle between FM channels and music companies over
copyright and royalty.

I like that bit where the Assn of Radio Operators of India (AROI) says that
"the levy for different genres of music — like film music, classical music,
etc. — should be different." I'd say 'amen' to that, but when was the last
time private FM channels gave their listeners a choice between different
genres of music?

Their next meeting before the Copyright Board is on 28 Jan. Watch this
space.

Sajan

Meeting fails, music war rages
Cithara Paul, The Telegraph, 21 Dec 2008

New Delhi, Dec. 20: Radio channels and music companies are still locked in a
tussle over royalty despite repeated interventions by the information and
broadcasting ministry.

The ministry had last week held a meeting with representatives of the
warring sides along with the registrar of copyrights to start a fresh
process for rationalising royalties. But the meeting, like the several that
preceded it, failed to break the deadlock.

The matter will now be presented before the Copyright Board on January 28.

The squabble began after music companies demanded that royalty fees be
doubled from the current rate of Rs 660 per hour.

At present, radio channels pay nearly Rs 100 crore as royalty to
Phonographic Performance Ltd, which represents major music companies like
Saregama India, Sony BMG Music, Universal Music, Tips Industries, Venus
Records and Tapes, and others.

The Association of Radio Operators in India (AROI), which represents over
250 radio channels, argues that if the music companies' demand is accepted,
FM operators will end up paying nearly 50 per cent of their annual revenue
as royalty.

The two sides have also locked horns over copyright. The music companies say
tunes and lyrics should be treated separately and FM channels should take
licence for both as playing either without licence amounts to copyright
infringement.

The AROI says the levy for different genres of music — like film music,
classical music, etc. — should be different and the fees should vary
according to the revenue generation capacity of channels.

"All FM channels should not be weighed on the same scale. There are so many
new FM channels coming up. If they have to pay the exorbitant amount the
music companies are demanding, they will all be finished," said an AROI
official.

The music industry has also demanded action against FM stations for
copyright violation.

Sources said the music company representatives alleged at the meeting that
the government was encouraging copyright violation by not punishing the
violators.

The I&B ministry, however, is hopeful that a compromise will be reached.
"The very fact that the warring groups have agreed to sit together once
again (on January 28) is itself a big thing given the history of their
fight," said a ministry official.

Earlier, on May 16, the Supreme Court had said the Copyright Board was the
constitutional authority to decide on royalty rates.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081221/jsp/nation/story_10281777.jsp
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On Wed, Dec 17, 2008 at 12:03 PM, sajan venniyoor <venniyoor at gmail.com>wrote:

> On 12/16/08, Arti Jaiman <arti at trfindia.org> wrote:
>
>> Since we work with children, some of them wanted to go on air on their CR
>> singing their favourite Hindi movie songs. Where do we stand on the
>> copyright front there? Is this acceptable to air?
>>
>> This is an IPRS issue (as in Indian Performing Rights, not Intellectual
> Property Rights), and according to the Society, your children have the right
> to sing their favourite movie songs without payment only if the lyricist has
> been dead for 60 years, otherwise "you must first obtain permission from
> him or from whoever owns the copyright in the composition."
>
> I am pretty sure your kids don't have any 60 year old favourite songs.
>
> It is widely believed that IPRS rights extend only to music performances in
> public places (auditoria, restaurants etc), and not to broadcasting. Many
> broadcasters (including AIR, I'm told) don't recognize the right of IPRS
> to extort money -- ostensibly on behalf of composers and lyricists -- and
> the India Today group in fact took IPRS to court and obtained a stay.
>
> The ignorance on this subject, especially in government circles, is vast.And it isn't helped by the fact that music royalties and related copyright
> issues are administered by the Department of Secondary and Higher Education.
>
> Sajan
>
>
> On 12/16/08, Arti Jaiman <arti at trfindia.org> wrote:
>>
>>  I have a question relating to the lyrics and sound rights you have
>> mentioned.
>>
>> Since we work with children, some of them wanted to go on air on their CR
>> singing their favourite Hindi movie songs. Where do we stand on the
>> copyright front there? Is this acceptable to air?
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>> Arti
>>
>> Arti Jaiman Project Manager: TRF Radio arti at trfindia.org www.trfindia.org
>> www.jaiman.org www.pitara.com
>>
>> --- On *Tue, 16/12/08, Frederick Noronha [फ़रेद <fred at bytesforall.org>*wrote:
>>
>> From: Frederick Noronha [फ़रेद <fred at bytesforall.org>
>> Subject: [cr-india] FM radio, music industry out of tune on royalty
>> To: "CR India" <cr-india at sarai.net>
>> Date: Tuesday, 16 December, 2008, 5:11 PM
>>
>> FM
>>  radio, music industry out of tune on royalty
>> Ashish Sinha / New Delhi December 16, 2008, 0:00 IST
>>
>> Matter to come before copyright board on January 28.
>>
>> The battle between music companies and FM radio channels over royalty
>>
>> payments has come out in the open with last-minute mediation by the
>> Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) failing to break the
>> deadlock.
>>
>> Music companies, already fighting rampant piracy, are demanding a
>>
>> doubling of music royalty fees (from the current Rs 660 per hour of
>> music played) that FM radio firms pay.
>>
>> They have also demanded that radio channels treat sound recording
>> rights and rights in musical lyrical works (tunes are copied by radio)
>>
>> as two separate sets of rights and playing them without a licence
>> would amount to copyright infringement.
>>
>> India's 250-plus FM radio stations across 90 towns, represented by the
>> Association of Radio Operators in India
>>
>>  (AROI), pay royalty to the
>> Phonographic Performance Ltd (PPL), which represents 160 music
>> companies like Saregama India, Sony BMG Music, Universal Music, Tips
>> Industries, Venus Records & Tapes and others.
>>
>> AROI said the current formula means that FM radio operators end up
>> paying 15 to 50 per cent of their annual revenue as music royalty
>> fees, significantly above global benchmarks of 2 to 3 per cent.
>>
>> Overall, the industry earns annual revenues of Rs 550 crore of which
>>
>> about Rs 100 crore is paid as music royalty.
>>
>> Sources said AROI may propose possible solutions like the royalty fee
>> payment based on population of a city, genre of music played by the
>> stations and fees based on 2 to 4 per cent of the annual revenue the
>>
>> stations generate.
>>
>> "The I&B ministry wanted both sides to talk and reach some sort of an
>> understanding on music royalty fees. But that did not happen," said
>> Apurva Purohit,
>>  president, AROI, and CEO, Radio City 91.1 FM.
>>
>> "Now the matter will be heard by the Copyright Board on January 28
>> where individual radio companies will present their case," she added.
>>
>> The Rs 750-crore music industry is also demanding action against about
>>
>> 100 FM stations, saying they have gone on air without taking licences
>> from the music societies or from the individual copyright owners,
>> violating music copyrights.
>>
>> "The music industry firmly believes that the government should not
>>
>> support such violators of copyrights and must take action to support
>> the music industry survive in these difficult days," says a senior
>> executive of Indian Music Industry (IMI).
>>
>> --
>> FN * Independent Journalist http://fn.goa-india.org
>>
>> Blog: http://fredericknoronha.wordpress.com
>> Tech links from South Asia: http://twitter.com/fn
>>
>> M: +91-9822122436 P:
>>  +91-832-2409490
>> _______________________________________________
>>
>>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20081221/a78597a6/attachment-0001.html 