Music Monetization?
Last year, the Unequal Music column in the Nov-Dec issue of the mag touched on the topic of alleged
misappropriation of funds by the IPRS and IPL; rewind to last year‘s report – “The Ministry of HRD had
set up, on 27 February 2014, an Enquiry Commission headed by retired Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana,
Justice Mukul Mudgal, to look into the affairs of IPRS because the ministry had prime facie evidence that the
record labels who control both IPRS and PPL may have colluded to ensure that the rights of the lyricists and
composers were siphoned off by PPL and even some third party private companies. To avoid the Enquiry, on June
2, 2014 IPRS withdrew from the Registrar of Copyrights its application for renewal of its license to operate
as a Copyright Society and went to court against the Enquiry Commission disclaiming its status as a society.
Fortunately, on 13 March 2015, the Chief Justice of Maharashtra ruled against IPRS, whose claim amounted to,
he said, “adding premium to dishonesty”, and that the Government was well within its right to audit the
accounts of IPRS from 1996 to 21 June 2013. IPRS then filed a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court. On
Friday 11 September 2015, the Supreme Court dismissed the SLP of IPRS.” When we last reported, the ball was
in the court of the Ministry of HRD and the question was: how fast and effectively would the HRD ministry?
Fast forward to December 2016: The Centre has constituted an enquiry to probe into allegations of malpractices
against the Indian Performing Rights Society (IPRS). “Since there were allegations of malpractices against the
IPRS, the Central Government has constituted an enquiry against it, which is currently in progress,” said the
Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP). Indian Performing Rights Society (IPRS) and Phopnographic
Performance Ltd. (PPL) were registered as copyright societies under section 33 of the pre-amended Copyright Act,
1957 for carrying out copyright business in the field of musical and literary works and sound recording works
respectively. However, the said registration was over with effect from June 21, 2013 -- one year from the date
of enactment of the Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012 on June 21, 2012.
“Both the societies have applied for re-registration before the Central Government under Section 33 of the amended
Act within the prescribed time limit and their request for re-registration as Copyright Societies is under
examination,” the DIPP said.
So to cut a long story short, the truth remains that even after a year, there hasn’t been any constructive progress
and it sure looks like it will be quite some time before this country’s composers/lyricists get justice and
can monetise the fruits of their labour.
Another issue of the magazine and we are back to scrutinizing the set of songs that are ruling the
charts.
At the time of going to press, songs from Karan Johar’s ‘Ae Dil Hain Mushkil’ were dominating the charts,
with ‘Channa Mereya’ basking in the glory of the #1 position, while the quirky “Break up Song” and the
title song of the movie “Dil hain mushkil” were at #4 and #6 respectively. The Sound Design for the songs
are by Dj Phukan & Sunny M.R.; Mixed and Mastered by Shadab Rayeen at New Edge Studio with Abhishek Sortey
as assistant and Ashwin Kulkarni, Himanshu Shirlekar, Lee Slater and Kaushik Das as the recording
engineers.
The new entry this month was ‘Nashe Si Chadh Gayi’ from Befikre at #2. Though the film bombed at the box-office,
the peppy tracks of the movie managed to set feet taping. The other song from this movie which has made it to
the list is ‘Ude Dil Befikre’ at #5; music by Vishal-Shekhar and recorded at Yashraj Studios under the YRF
Music label.
Though Amit Trivedi came out with another beautiful set of songs for the movie Dear Zindagi, only the light
hearted and warm track “Love you Zindagi” managed to find a place on the music charts this month. At #3, the
song under the Sony Music label, has been recorded by Shadab Rayeen, Assisted by Abhishek Sortey & Firoz
Shaikh at AT Studios and also mixed by Shadab Rayeen at A T Studios & New Edge Studios in Mumbai. The song
has been mastered by Donal Whelan of Masteringworld, U.K and Sound Design is by Debasish Mishra.
Close on the heels of Ae Dil Hain Mushkil, Pritam seems to have ended the year on a high note with some rustic
Haryanvi music for the Aamir Khan starrer Dangal.
Recorded under the Zee Music Company label, the songs ‘Bapu Hanikarak’ at #7 and ‘Dhaakad’ at #9 have hit the
right chord with the audience. The sound crew for the songs include sound design by Shajith Koyeri (Bapu
Hanikarak) and Sunny M.R. & DJ Phukan (Dhaakad); Mix & Mastered by Shadab Rayeen and assisted by Abhishek
Sortey at New Edge studios; Recording Engineers : Kaushik Das, Ashwin Kulkarni, Himanshu Shirlekar and Aaroh
Velankar
It may just be a matter of time before we hear some of these songs on the little box as an ad jingle or a
television title track. The reuse of Bollywood-songs in India is legion. Wrigley’s used ‘Ek Ajnabee Hasina Se’
from the Rajesh Khanna starrer Ajnabee to launch its Doublemint brand, while the super hit daily soap Bade Achche
Lagte Hai chose a namesake song from the 1970s movie Balika Vadhu. Saffola with Akele Akele Kahaan Ja Rahe Ho,
Tanishq with Dil Deke Dekho, Cello Pens with Chitthi Aai Hai....the instances are innumerable.
This again brings us to the rights of the composers/lyricists and creatives behind the songs. Music Labels have
found one more avenue to monetise their library of songs, but what about the composers and lyricists. “The
purpose of IPRS is to issue Licences to users of music and collect Royalties from them, for and on behalf
of its Members i.e. the Authors, the Composers and the Publishers of Music and distribute this Royalty amongst
them after deducting its administrative costs,” but with the body supposed to be looking after the interests of
its members embroiled in legal cases of misappropriation of funds, the members woes continue as we move forward to
the next year.