MUMBAI: The much awaited Copyright Amendment Bill 2012 was passed by the Lower House (Lok Sabha) today.
The bill cleared by the Rajya Sabha on 17 May, provides for amendments to the Copyright Act to remove operational difficulties and address new issues concerning the digital world and internet.
The legislation will now go to the President Pratibha Devisingh Patil for her assent, before it is notified and becomes law.
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Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj and Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal supported the bill.
“It will do justice to those professionals who had been creating songs for the Hindi films. Various recommendations of the parliamentary standing committee had been incorporated in the bill,” Sibal said.
Swaraj said, “It is a step in the right direction in protecting the interest of the lyricists, who create wonderful songs.” Film producers had lobbied with her to oppose the bill but she decided to support it when well-known director and music composer Vishal Bhardwaj said the amendments were for the good of the lyricists.
Member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor and Sharad Yadav also seconded the bill saying that the words are the intellectual property of creators and they should be protected.
Song writers, artistes and performers received unanimous support from members from all parties in the Lok Sabha for their claim to get royalty for their creations, with many MPs pointing out that the benefits of the songs have so far been kept by producers.
The bill tackles seven broad areas: right of author and music composer, right to visually impaired, extending compulsory regime to unpublished work and imposition of punitive action, among others.
It also seeks to bring Indian laws originally enacted in 1957 in conformity with international norms and World Intellectual Property Organisation.
The bill declares authors as owners of the copyright, which cannot be assigned to the producers as was the practice till now.
It will now become mandatory for broadcasters – both radio and television – to pay royalty to the owners of the copyright each time a work of art is broadcast. It bans people from bringing out cover versions of any literary, dramatic or musical work for five years from the first recording of the original creation.
The amendments to the Copyright Act 1958, aim at according unassignable rights to ‘creative artists’ such as lyricists, playback singers, music directors, film directors, dialogue writers who will be paid royalty every time the movie they have worked in is aired on a television channel.
A statutory licence is an exception under Copyright Act. It puts limits on the basic principle of the copyright law, that authors and creators should have the exclusive right to control the dissemination of their work. Under statutory licensing, the royalty or remuneration for the author or creator is specified by law or such set negotiation.
With the bill getting clearance, the statutory licensing clause will not specify users allowing for television and new media broadcasters as well as radio broadcasters to benefit.
Copyright Amendment Bill brought cheer to music directors and lyricists who will now have a share of the profits earned on their work. Radioandmusic.com spoke with the fraternity and this is what they had to say:
Javed AKhtar: “I think it is wonderful and whatever has happened today is kind of a watershed and milestone in the Indian Music Industry. This bill has changed the basic ethos. The Copyright law will bring the music industry from feudal era to modern times. Our rules and laws will now definately be in power with other major countries of the world. Without this law we cannot function with the international fraternity, because they have their laws and without these laws we couldn’t have a bilateral agreement with them. It is wonderful and I am happy that writers and music directors will have their fair share and this will give them great incentive to work better.”
Music composer/ singer Shankar Mahadevan: “I am very happy with the decision passed by Lok Sabha. I am sure every composer like me is happy with the decision.”
Association of Radio Operators for India (AROI) president Anurradha Prasad: “The radio industry will now survive. I am extremely overjoyed for the industry and the creative professionals. I would also like to say that it is a win-win situation for everyone from the industry. It is just like if you kill the chicken the egg will stop coming. The music industry should also be happy with the bill. Our ordeal is now over.”
Music composer Lalit Pandit: “Sushma Swaraj gave a wonderful speech. Creators of music were deprived of their rights for long and it is a wonderful day for the composers, lyricists and the entire fraternity.”
Music director/singer Shekhar Ravjiani: “Big gratitude and lots of blessings to Javed Sahaab, Kapil Sibal and Sushma Swaraj. It’s a great decision passed by Lok Sabha. I think today’s day will be marked in the book of history for all the musicians and artistes.”
Entertainment Network India Ltd (ENIL) CEO and executive director Prashant Panday: “It’s a revolutionary legislation which will free up and reward the creative energies of our talented music artistes. They deserve every bit of recognition and reward and the act does that. Mirchi is proud to be associated with these geniuses. Mirchi is also happy that statutory licensing will bring relief to radio. We want to extend a hand of friendship to the music industry. We are two sides of the same coin; we must now behave like that.”
Music composer Sulaiman Merchant: “We are very ecstatic that the bill is finally passed. The bill has been going through since 10 years and six years before that. I am really happy that it’s now passed as lot of work has gone through it. I would like to thank Javedji, Kapil Sibal and government for passing the bill.”
Lyricist & Indian Film Writer Association ex-president Jalees Sherwani: “It is fantastic as the rights of the writers are finally recognized by the Government of India. Ultimately, the composers and lyricists received their rights which was denied to them for a long time. It is a day of privilege for all the writers and composers of the country.”
Sony Music Entertainment India and Middle East president Shridhar Subramaniam: “This amendment is an extremely positive move and we are very supportive of this bill. We are delighted that going forward the composers and lyricists will get a share in royalties. This was long awaited and we believe this will help the overall artiste development and align us with global practices. We now need to wait for the law to be signed by the President and then begin the process of interpreting and implementing the new developments in a broad and consensual manner to develop healthy new practices. The only thing that we are disappointed with is not much has been done about the piracy issue that we all are struggling with and also the issue of statutory license for broadcasters.”
Music composer Ehsaan Noorani: “It is a historic ruling for the Indian music industry. It’s a blessing for singers, musicians, composers and everybody in the industry. We all have been waiting for this change to happen and now it has finally taken place. So it’s great.”
Shabana Azmi tweeted, “LAW! Passed in both Houses of Parliament. Historic. Congrats to Opposition and UPA for progressive just law. @ShashiTharoor Thanku so much. And especially for making the point on non assign ability of rights. This Bill undoes a historic wrong.”
Big FM business head Rabe T Iyer said: “It is a positive, constructive and beneficial step in truly recognizing the real owners of music and not just the labels who pitch and buy them. Fair distribution of rights will lead to increasing talent pool, greater accountability of quality and continued effort to innovate. The bill will offer greater flexibility for Radio stations to play music recomposed or readjusted by creators of songs. Now we will have more music and more musicians as they get their due.”
