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

Sun Dec 21 23:08:48 IST 2008

Thanks for these updates, Sajan. This is definitely something that all of us will be glued to. I wonder how is works in other parts of the world? University radio stations in the US play a lot of classical music, and typically have music school graduate students as RJs so that they can bring in some extra info on the music. I'm sure it doesn't cost as much to play that music, as it does, say, popular rock and roll.

Arti

Arti Jaiman Project Manager: TRF Radio arti at trfindia.org www.trfindia.org www.jaiman.org www.pitara.com

--- On Sun, 21/12/08, sajan venniyoor <venniyoor at gmail.com> wrote:
From: sajan venniyoor <venniyoor at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [cr-india] FM radio, music industry out of tune on royalty
To: "CR India" <cr-india at sarai.net>
Date: Sunday, 21 December, 2008, 2:04 PM

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

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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

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