Right it Out

Meanwhile,there is a new issue that the lyricists and composers are fighting against. The Bombay High Court,followed by the Delhi High Court,passed their judgements last month,which imply that the author and composer of a song are not entitled to any performing rights once the song is recorded,since there is no public performance involved.

The result is that now,radio channels will not need to pay royalties to the producer,author or composer of the music being broadcast. “This,however,is contrary to the international performing rights law,” said Javed Akhtar at the press meet called in by prominent lyricists and composers,including Loy Mendonca of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy,Vishal Bhardwaj and Ram Sampath called for on Tuesday. “According to the international treaty under World Trade Organisation,of which India is a signatory,authors and composers are entitled to a royalty on their performing rights,which is to be paid by broadcasters in all the countries that are members of the WTO. So according to the performing rights,if Mexico or Spain play an Indian song,its lyricist and composer are supposed to receive a certain amount. In fact,Indian FM channels pay international artistes their dues too. But now,these new rulings deny us all these rights,going against international laws.” The community hence intends to appeal against these rulings soon.

While their claim is justified,what infuriates the writer-composer community,is the fact that the case has been subjudiced since 2006 and none of them has been receiving any royalty since.

Sampath and Mendonca,who have parallel careers as ad jingle composers,said that unlike in the film industry,the corporate world recognises the rights of authors and composers. “I hold seven different rights to my work,including the copyright and performing rights. Huge discrepancies operate in the film industry and these need to be looked into,” said Sampath.

Bhardwaj hopes that the amendment to the Copyright

Act will cover all the grey areas regarding these issues.

“Yet,until that happens,it is only fair to appeal against the ruling,” he said.

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