MUMBAI: The Indian music industry’s cheer over royalty and co-ownership as mooted by the proposed amendments to the Indian Copyright Act might be short lived as film producers are now ganging up against the move.
Representing the producers in Bollywood, Mukesh Bhatt, Yash Chopra and music industry body Indian Music Industry (IMI) president Vijay Lazarus met the human resource and development minister Kapil Sibal last week to seek undoing of the the proposals in the Copyright Act. The motive of the meeting was to explain the commercial practices in the film industry and an appeal to consult the producers’ association before passing the ruling.
The Union Cabinet on 24 December had approved the proposal to introduce a bill to amend the Copyright Act, 1957 according to which musicians, lyricists are entitled to getting royalty for commercial use of their work. The Human Resource Development Ministry had proposed an amendment to give independent rights to authors of literary and musical work in cinematograph films.
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Protesting this move, producers met the HRD minister to reconsider the proposal. Revealing more about the meeting, Vishesh Films’ Mukesh Bhatt states, We approached the HRD as the producers were not approached before proposing this amendment. Every party connected needs to be approached as it would change the working of the industry. The honourable minister has assured that a joint consensus would be derived before passing the ruling….
The producers are also questioning the fair use of music by news channels and GECs for their shows. The association is demanding clarity on the fair play of music by the channels and other mediums and a proper payment mode be followed if music is used beyond the prescribed limit.
Reacting to the proposed amendment, film producer Pahlaj Nihalani asserts, This amendment is unnecessarily dividing the industry as it would create a rift between the producers and the royalty seekers. The HRD ministry should know the functions of the industry before making these changes which will alter the dynamics of the industry. Producers pay the composers, lyricists on a contract basis and are paid remunerations irrespective of the outcome of their work…
Stating the reasons for initiating a move for protesting the copyright amendment, Bhatt elaborates, This is an unrealistic proposal as producer bears the initial expenses for producing the music and pays the composers, lyricist outright, so there is no question of royalty. On the co-ownership front, not all the song penned or tune composed works in the market, but they are paid even for such creations, if they can part take our looses then royalty can be thought about….
As Shemaroo Entertainment director Hiren Gada shares, The proposed amendment is against the trade practices in the film industry. Producers take the financial risk and are entitled to sole ownership of the product, if the composers and lyricists’ part take the risk by reducing their fees, then co-ownership is still acceptable…. The other contentious issue as Gada opines is the extension of the term of copyright from the current sixty years to seventy
With the producers gearing up against the composers and lyricists right to get royalty, uproar from the music fraternity can be expected in the coming days.
