Bollywood moguls react with horror to India's new Copyright Act provisions

Bollywood has reacted with horror to the new Indian Copyright (Amendment) Bill, 2012, which seeks to protect owners of literary and musical works and which has been passed by the Rajya Sabha (543-0) and will be presented to the Lok Sabha before it becomes law, much to the delight of singers, script writers, lyricists and composers. But some music and film companies feel that it is "extremely unfair".

The new Act is said to be “empowering the creative sector” and strengthens the royalty claims of artistes, song and script writers, musicians and addresses newer issues related to the digital world and the Internet. The legislation was approved by the Rajya Sabha on May 17th and law provides that authors are the owners of the copyright for their creative work and that this right cannot be assigned to producers, as has been common the practice.

The Act also makes it mandatory for broadcasters from both the radio and television industry to pay royalty to the owners of copyright each time a work of art is broadcast. The law also bans cover versions of literary, dramatic or musical work for five years from the first recording of the original creation.

Human Resources Development Minister Kapil Sibal, who had moved the bill in Lok Sabha, noted that artistes who came from poor background were often left to fend for themselves, as film and record producers cornered all royalties that came from the work, be it stories or scripts or songs. He said the legislation was to help the artistes achieve a decent living even in old age, continuing to receive their dues for the work done during their prime. Giving examples of Shehnai exponent Bismillah Khan and music composer Ravi, the minister pointed out that the financial position of such outstanding artistes was "pitiable" and they were unable to even pay their housing and medical costs, after long and successful careers. The Leader of the Opposition, Sushma Swaraj, also supported the bill and said it was long overdue. Swaraj said that film producers had lobbied 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 lyricists.

The bill also seeks to bring the Indian Copyright Act 1957 in conformity with "international norms" and "World Intellectual Property Organisation guidelines".

The President of the Association of Radio Operators for India Anurradha Prasad said the radio industry will “now survive” saying “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 that if you kill the chicken the egg will stop coming". "The music industry should also be happy with the bill,” she told Radioandmusic.com.

Sony Music Entertainment India and Middle-East president Shridhar Subramaniam stated: “This amendment is an extremely positive move and we are very supportive of this bill. 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 licenses for broadcasters."

But many in the movie industry, who have benefitted from acquiring control and ownership of scripts, songs and recordings in the past, were less than happy. Adarsh Gupta, business head of Saregama company, said the proposed legislation spells disaster saying "It is extremely unfair to the film and music industry. It will turn out to be a real issue in times to come. I don't think there will be any creative compromises. There will be a lot of litigation on this issue. The entire equation will need to be re-assessed from start to finish".

The new royalty division is reported as 50 percent for music label; 25 percent for producer and 25 percent to be split between the lyricist and the composer. Currently, 100 percent goes to the music label which can, as I understand it, also be a film company, although I am not clear on the definition of 'producer' at the time of posting this blog.

http://www.smetimes.in/smetimes/news/top-stories/2012/May/23/parliament-gives-nod-strengthened-copyright-law72191.html

http://entertainment.in.msn.com/bollywood/article.aspx?cp-documentid=250070212

Right royal ruckus up over new Bollywood copyright proposals

It seems that Indian film music composers may have to look for other avenues of employment if Bollywood film producers make good their threat and stop producing films in protest against proposed new copyright legislation – or find music from other sources. The Times of India reports that a Parliamentary Standing committee has recommended that the Copyright Amendment Bill 2010 should provide that film producers give authors, lyricists and composers an ongoing royalty from a film – and shared ownership.

Award winning producer Yash Chopra, who along with other film producers had made several presentations before the Committee said, "Ours is the entertainment business, yet like the alcohol or tobacco industry we have to pay huge taxes in the form of VAT, service tax and stamp duty. Now if the Copyright Bill is passed it will be the end of us as it will be very difficult to make films." Echoing this was producer Boney Kapoor who told the Times of India: "We are already burdened with so many taxes and if this is implemented it would be difficult to sustain ourselves”. Another producer said that if the revisions are implemented iit will only lead to “the death of Bollywood music” as it will not be economically viable for producers to have India music in their films.

The planned proposal is to protect the rights of authors (scriptwriters, composers and lyricists) who have in the past usually been paid a fixed fee by producers, who then controlled all rights in the music and lyrics - in effect a “buy out” of the author’s rights. The revision would mean that although the producer of the movie will be the first owner of the music when used as part of cinematograph work, the lyricist or composer will be first owner for all other purposes. The producers are not happy with this and Chopra said "If we will be left with no rights how will we monetise any of the property of a film and give them royalty?" adding, "In 2013, we are celebrating 100 years of Indian cinema but looks like by then we may be writing our obituaries." Perhaps more tellingly, Ameet Naik who represented the producers' body before the panel said, "The bill in its present form is tilted towards established authors. Producers will think twice before hiring new ones and there is every chance even if they get work [they] will not be given credit" with (I imagine) the film companies claiming to be the ‘author’ and therefore owning the copyright – not too unlike the US and UK music industries in the fifties and sixties when managers, record label executives and publishers often put themselves down as co ‘authors’ to receive an ongoing share of song writing royalties. Chopra added to this saying "Several composers and writers just want the money and are not bothered about credit, all they insist is to just give them one amount and that is it” adding that the changes would dramatically alter the Bollywood funding model and leave producers exposed in recouping their investments. Chopra said "Most songs in films abroad are taken from albums, which is totally different from how music is made in India. Music for any film is a team contribution and not an individual's work. How can they be first owners?" It seems that an alternative new business model might be one where the film producers set up ‘independent’ record labels and music publishers – acquiring copyrights from songwriters in a different way, which they can then of course can still control and feed into their films.

Understandably, Lyricists, composers and singers welcomed the news with producer-director-composer Vishal Bharadwaj saying “As for the law favouring composers and lyricists, I am an artiste first and I feel it is a historical and large-hearted decision. At least this will secure their future now. So many of my songs have been used in serials and commercials but nothing comes to me” adding “Composers, writers and lyricists get royalty abroad, so why not we in India".


Read more: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Royalty-recommendation-to-lyricists-composers-not-music-to-producers-ears/articleshow/7050253.cms