The Lost Public Performance Royalties

WHAT IS CONSIDERED AS A PUBLIC PERFORMANCE? Several public places such as restaurants, clubs, hotels, nightclubs, airports, etc., play songs as background music to lighten up the ambience. In other cases, many DJs perform another artist's music as a part of their set or a band plays a cover of another musician's song. These acts amount to the communication of the copyrighted songs to their 'Public Performance'. It is an essential right of the copyright owner or his assignee to control the public performance of his/her song. Hence, securing an appropriate licence on payment of necessary fees and performance rights is a prerequisite for such performances in public. In many cases, one can obtain a 'blanket-licence' to perform more than 20 compositions by other artists. But, many owners of such places or DJs/Bands, knowingly or out of ignorance indulge in playing songs without proper licence and recognition to the copyright owners of those songs. WHAT ROLE DOES PRO PLAY IN COLLECTING THESE ROYALTIES? The first PRO (Performance Rights Society) was created by authors-composers in the mid-19th century in response to the impracticality for the copyright owners to licence the commercial performance of their songs around the country and the globe. With the presence of PROs like Indian Performing Right Society (IPRS), songwriters and their publishers can assign/transfer their rights to authorise the public performance of their songs. In return, the PRO would collect a fee for every musical performance in its country and distribute the money equally between the songwriters and the publisher after deducting a service fee. The PRO will also enter into agreements with similar societies like ASCAP, SOCAN etc. around the world, who are also doing the same work in their territory. These agreements state exclusive authority to collect the royalties when the music of IPRS/PPL members is performed in their country; and vice-versa, and then they pay each other. Thanks to this system, the user obtains a licence to commercially perform any music in the world and the royalties collected by the PROs are distributed accordingly. As an artist, it is your responsibility to have your work registered with a PRO either directly or through a publisher, and, it is the responsibility of the PRO in the country of origin of the songwriter to have their songs registered in every PRO of another country. If your songs are not registered in the PRO of a different country, then that is a giant revenue stream you are unable to collect. WHAT'S THE PROBLEM? Unfortunately, IPRS has not been collecting/distributing these performance royalties and has a miserable record of service to its members. Its annual income stated is meagre compared to similar societies. In 2015, BMI alone earned $1.13 billion and distributed $1.02 billion to its songwriters and publishers. Subsequently, In 2014 the IPRS surrendered its licence to operate as a legitimate copyright society when it came under investigation by two separate arms of the government. After that its bank accounts were seized by the Enforcement Directorate. Following that, a CISAC (International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers) audit in 2015 found that IPRS was meeting none of its Professional Rules; and after several warnings, CISAC expelled the IPRS for a year. As a result, all royalties collected for the use of Indian music will be held in suspense accounts around the world until IPRS reforms and is re-admitted into the CISAC fold. GOOD NEWS... IPRS got a new Board last April chaired by Javed Akhtar; it has been granted re-registration by the Central Government in November and is accordingly now a Copyright Society. In addition, Achille Forler, who pioneered music publishing in India and has represented CISAC on several occasions, has been appointed Permanent Advisor to the board. On the other hand, Rajat Kakar - with over two decades of experience in the media and entertainment business, and, two successful stints at Sony Music India and Universal Music India -, has been appointed as the Managing Director of PPL, (the PRO that licenses the sound recordings on behalf of record labels and producers). These developments are extremely promising and will be helping the music industry in India evolve to its next stage. Only an efficient and transparent IPRS/PPL can help in the growth of a sustainable creative ecosystem for all musicians and take the musical talent of India to global heights.