Dear Editor,
I had a good time going through the June issue of India Business Law Journal and was impressed with the way it was structured. It is a very informative and thoughtful publication.
I found it interesting to read the news item, Copyright bill gets presidential nod and the court judgment, “Musicians denied rights from radio broadcasts.” Allowing lyricists and music composers to profit from royalties for a song used elsewhere, except as part of a cinematographic film in a cinema hall or during a producer’s promotional campaign, will not only lead to confusion as to its viability but will also create major disagreements between the producer (owner) of the cinematographic film and the people behind its songs.
The court’s judgment in the Indian Performing Rights Society case will undoubtedly lead to controversies over royalty claims and their disbursement. Apart from being broadcast as part of a cinematographic film, songs are aired on the radio, played in discotheques and other entertainment hubs, used for stage or television performances, etc.
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If lyricists and music composers are treated as first owners of copyright in a song (without any assigning rights except for a cinematographic film) and are entitled to the royalty therein at all times, imagine the chaos that has to be faced by the broadcaster, player, and the user of that song – permission, licence, payment of royalty!
Consider a dance performance by an actress to a song (that was first featured in a cinematographic film) at an award function following the release of that film. The audience bought expensive tickets for the function (which already has sponsors who know that the actress will dance to the said song as this was advertised). The function would also be broadcast on television, inviting huge revenue through advertisements.
Here, in line with the upcoming Copyright Act, the lyricist and the music composer of the song would be entitled to royalty, even though most or all of the value of the said song depends on its visualization, which was earlier displayed in the cinematographic film and now as live performance.
In short, the question is about the identity of the song. The factual position is that songs in a cinematographic film are popular or identifiable in the name of the cinematographic film, whereas songs from private music albums i.e. ghazals, pop, sufi, contemporary, etc., are popular or identifiable by their singer.
In this situation where it is the visualization of a song in a cinematographic film and an artist of a song in a private album that makes the song marketable, the question of what and how much royalty lyricists and music composers are entitled to is one the law will have to answer.
Siddharth Sangal
Attorney, Supreme Court of India,
and Corporate Counsel
New Delhi
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