What do we do when we love a song? Just visit one of those numerous websites and hit the 'download' button. But, did you know that about 90 per cent of these websites do not have the licence to upload songs that we download?
As per the Copyright Act of 1957, it is mandatory for every website that offers film songs and other recorded music for downloading, to get a licence from Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL)-India. It holds the performing rights of more than 300 music labels across India, and also international music. They are affiliated globally to International Federation of Phonographic Industries (IFPI).
In fact, any event that plays recorded music in a commercial space—from birthday parties, DJ nights, hotels to shops—must get a licence from PPL and Indian Performing Rights Society (IPRS). Marriage and religious functions are exempted. These organisations extend the royalty to the artistes.
Are the DJs careful about the rules? DJ Envy, who has performed in Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and other cities, said, “Whoever books the performance, they take the licence, and not the artiste. I mostly play with reputed hotels and they will never do anything outside the legal terms. And I haven’t heard of any DJ getting into trouble because of not having a licence.”
Explaining about the types of licences, Hari Nair, the chief digital officer, PPL-India, said, “Shops playing songs in the background has to get background licence”. A background licence owner cannot play music for other events, for which there is a separate licence called the public performance licence.
A decade ago, tracking a pirated website was cumbersome. Sharing his experience, J. Swaminathan, secretary, South Indian Music Companies Association (SIMCA), said, “Interestingly, 10 years back there was a site called mohankumar.com. I told him to fall in line, but he never did. He was hosting his website from the US. I had sent a legal notice to his hosting provider and the next day, the site was removed. The next day he had hosted the site from Australia. After the next notice, he hosted it from Canada, New Zealand and then from Germany. The bill from my US lawyer came to $48,000.”
Rajesh S. Dhupad, joint secretary, SIMCA, explained the ‘laborious process’. The company has a team of field officers who go to public places playing music and and check whether they have the necessary licence. The team identifies and sends legal notices. But, more than moving legally, they prefer to settle it in a “smooth way” as they welcome anybody who wants to use their music. The team comprises members who are experienced in this field. “When they visit a hotel, for example, they will be able to identify a song and whether that comes under any of our member labels. If yes, they will check the list of hotels holding a licence. If the hotel doesn't have a licence, we try to educate them about the whole process. We avoid the legal approach. Sending a legal notice is our last resort,” Dhupad said.
Speaking on the challenges in the digital world of music, he said, “There are more than 10,200 pirated websites in Tamil which are offer Tamil film songs and videos for download. Even if we get a stay order against these websites, they will easily change their server or names and launch the site again. This is a huge challenge for us.”
Recently, SIMCA members joined PPL to monetise their public performances rights. SIMCA administers the rights of music companies across the four south-Indian states. “This tie-up gives PPL access to over 1,00,000 sound recordings from films, independent and devotional albums, songs from Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Sanskrit, and Malayalam. SIMCA continues to monetise its content on radio and digital platforms directly,” said their press release.
SIMCA has 89 members from the four states.