[cr-india] Alien vs. Predator (or How to Stop Worrying and Love Copyright Bodies)

[Vickram Crishna]

Well put, Sajan. You did not mention one more category of interested parties, namely, lawyers, who might charge anything from Rs 5k to the sky, whichever is higher, to say the same thing, only not so well. 
 
Vickram
http://communicall.wordpress.com
http://vvcrishna.wordpress.com



>________________________________
> From: sajan venniyoor <venniyoor at gmail.com>
>To: CR India <cr-india at sarai.net> 
>Sent: Thursday, 9 February 2012, 10:48
>Subject: [cr-india] Alien vs. Predator (or How to Stop Worrying and Love Copyright Bodies)
> 
>
>About Music Royalties and Copyright Agencies
>
>
>I'm frequently asked about the right of a community radio
station to play recorded music (film songs, mostly). Well, there is nothing in
the CR Guidelines that says you can't play popular music over CR stations, but
we suggest you keep the Kolaveri Dis it
to a minimum. You are not competing with commercial radio.
> 
>The next question I get asked is: Don't we need to pay fees
for playing commercial music, and if so, whom do we pay? 
> 
>Now, I have heard from many CR stations that almost the
first thing that happens when they start broadcasting is they get a letter or
two asking them to pay music royalties. And this where it starts to get murky.
Because the demands come from two separate agencies: PPL and IPRS. 
> 
>Thanks to some very deft manoeuvering by
musicians and music companies, pretty much every person who is part of a song
recording claims a right to the song. The lyricist, the composer, the singer,
the guy who plays the harmonica and of course the music company that produces
the song. 
> 
>The Copyright Office (which, for some deep, unfathomable
reason best known to bureaucrats is situated in the Department of Higher
Education, Min. of HRD) recognizes two separate
copyright bodies for music: the Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) for
'sound recordings' and the Indian Performing Rights Society (IPRS) for 'musical
works'. Generally, the music companies cluster around PPL while the lyricist, the composer, the harmonica player and the chap who props up the
piano lid are all members of IPRS. 
> 
>Now, both these organizations are pretty clear that CR
stations should pay music royalties to them, usually at the rates given below:
>	* Non-Profit organizations:  Rs. 1,50,000 per annum or 5% of Gross Advertising Revenue which ever is higher.
>	* Universities, professional and research institutes: Rs. 1,00,000 per annum or 5% of Gross Advertising Revenue which ever is higher.
>	* Other educational institutions: Rs. 50,000 per annum or 5% of Gross Advertising Revenue which ever is higher.
>And both PPL and IPRS demand separate payments. A small CR
station could end up paying Rs.3,00,000 for playing two hours of music a day if
they are not careful.
> 
>What they don’t tell you is that, back in July 2011, the
Mumbai High Court ruled that IPRS "is not entitled to claim or demand
royalty or licence fees from a FM channel for the recorded songs and music it
plays on its stations." That's right -- IPRS has no claim on music
royalties from radio stations. 
> 
>Which leaves PPL. According to the Copyright Office, the
copyright society should "frame a scheme of tariff to be called the
“Tariff Scheme” setting out the nature and quantum of fees or royalties
which it proposes to collect in respect of such copyright or other rights
administered by it." If PPL has a tariff scheme, it's a closely guarded
secret. Mostly, they seem to make up their tariffs as they go along. (The
figures I have quoted are from IPRS).
> 
>It so happens that the Copyright Board, under directions
from the Supreme Court, issued an order in August 2010 saying that FM radio companies
need pay only 2% of their net advertisement
earnings as music royalty.
>
>
>My math is woefully inadequate, but let
me see, when would 2% of ad revenue add up to Rs.1.5 lakhs? When the CR station
earns Rs.75,00,000 in ad revenue per annum, or when pigs fly, whichever is
higher.
> 
>Sajan
>Join the Community Radio Forum. For membership details, please go to www.crforum.in
>
>
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