 Now that Aamir Khan is back on the HRD ministry's copyright panel, which is debating the amendment to copyright laws, it is time to step away from the brouhaha and focus on the matter at hand - amending our archaic copyright laws, governed by the Copyright Act, 1957.
Talking about the existing system, lyricist Pa Vijay informs, "The IPRS (The Indian Performing Right Society) - which has veteran lyricists Vairamuthu and Piraisudan among its board of directors - collects our royalties and sends them to us. The royalty is divided between the producer, composer and lyricist (in that order) according to a percentage." Composer Vishal Dadlani, who is part of the 10-member panel, writes on his micro-blogging page that he is open to a cut in his pay "to keep ownership of my songs". "Do you know that when V/S performs our OWN songs live, we have to PAY ROYALTY to record labels? If I sing my own song on TV, then too! SHAME! (sic)" he cries.
Batting for the music companies, Pradeep Anandhan, business head of a Chennai-based music label, counters, "Audio labels take a risk when investing on a soundtrack because there is no scientifically proven method to tell what will sell. And most musicians and lyricists are paid the full amount upfront." But Vishal, who agrees there is an element of risk, also a point out that it is minimal. "They mostly invest in tried-and-tested, hit-music composers only. Why so? They rely on our track records. So, what's the risk?" he asks.
Director Shekhar Kapur writes on his micro-blogging page, "In Indian cinema, copyright means rite to copy." Refusing to take sides with either Aamir Khan, who's of the opinion that it is stars who make a song popular or Javed Akhtar, who feels lyricists too are a part of a song's success , he adds, "I think the issue of copyright is over hyped. Copy left is d new word, (sic)" he tweets sarcastically.
On the lack of a pan Indian presence in the current panel, Vishal says that it really isn't the case. "Actually, Mr Suresh Babu was present, so was another gentleman from the south. It WAS pan-Indian." But Karthik S, a popular blogger says, "Lack of regional participation is terribly unfair. India has a tendency to blow only the Bollywood trumpet and that has already cost us in terms of visibility for regional cinema, outside the country. It's not about the money involved alone - given how vibrant the music business is in other languages." However, Pradeep comes up with a plausible explanation. "Audio labels down south don't collect royalty from composers and lyricist for performing their own creations. This currently happens in Bollywood. But I'm all for relaxing those clauses for persons directly involved with the project," he says.
He also adds that musicians and lyricists here are not really aware of copyright provisions. "Except for AR Rahman, no composer down south takes royalty rights. In the case of Hollywood, artistes have agents, who look after the monetary and legal aspects. Here, it is the composer who negotiates with the producer." Karthik feels that this controversy will definitely bring awareness amongst composers and lyricists. "Indian films have traditionally been producer-driven and every other department is merely seen as taken-on-hire by the producer. The western film mindset is different, since they only have background music - no songs. But in India, songs are an important part of the filmmaking and promotional process. At least from that perspective, musicians/composer deserves rights and specific royalties in what they produce."
|
