Atlast..Something sensible is happening
--------------------------
Music jars as creators & companies clash
- Tiff over song ownership CHARU SUDAN KASTURI New
Delhi, April 1: Bollywood composers and lyricists have dragged a four-year
battle for ownership rights of their songs to the government, seeking changes
in the copyright regime that they claim favours music companies over them.
The Indian Performing Rights Society, tasked with collecting money from
licensed users of songs under the countrys copyright law, is not paying them
the royalty they deserve, the composers and the lyricists have alleged.
The society has denied all the charges.
Lyricist and scriptwriter Javed Akhtar and six other Bollywood artists met
human resource development minister Arjun Singh at his home late last week,
complaining that the society was biased against them.
The ministry is the nodal agency for implementing the law. Sources said Singh
has asked officials to look at possible means of intervention. The society is a
non-government organisation, but is recognised by the Centre as the body
representing copyright concerns of performers.
Although the society was started as a group of Indian artists composers,
authors and lyricists today it is controlled by the music companies. They do
not want to share their earnings with the people who create the songs that
fetch them money in the first place, Akhtar told The Telegraph.
The society was started in 1969 by M.B. Srinivasan, a south Indian composer
and an active trade unionist, as a lobby group for composers, authors and
lyricists. It, however, had no official status and needed to bargain with each
user for compensation in an environment where few recognised copyright as a
right. The users range from restaurants to FM channels.
In 1994, music companies joined the group and in 1995, it became a recognised
society, mandated under Section 33 of the Indian Copyright Act to collect funds
from users.
The society was also tasked with distributing the money among the owners of
the copyrights. It gives 50 per cent of its earnings from each song to the
music company, 30 per cent to the composer and the remaining 20 per cent to the
author or the lyricist, according to officials of the society.
Several composers and lyricists have not been paid by the society for the
past two years. We brought all this to the notice of the minister, Akhtar
said.
But Rakesh Nigam, the CEO of the society, said: It is untrue that we have
not paid composers. Yes, there may have been a delay on one occasion, but
everyone is paid.
The companies copyright owners compensate performers almost as a
favour, and can stop all royalty if they wish, critics of the society and the
current law point out.
But the performers must realise that we are no trade union. Those aggrieved
should go and fight their battles in court, Nigam added.
They have, but against the society itself. In 2004, the composers and the
lyricists appealed to Calcutta High Court against decisions taken at that
years annual general meeting (AGM). The court passed an injunction, putting
all decisions taken at the AGM on hold.
For the past three years, the society has been holding AGMs, but the
protesting artists boycotted those meetings.
Anu Malik, A.R. Rahman and the trio of Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy are some other
prominent members of the society, but their stand on the controversy is not
clear.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080402/jsp/nation/story_9085735.jsp
---------------------------------
You rock. That's why Blockbuster's offering you one month of Blockbuster Total
Access, No Cost.
