Copyright Societies & Royalty Distribution in India
- iprcschoool
- Aug 16
- 7 min read
By Karan Agarwal & Anirudh Brijesh
I. Introduction to Copyright Societies
Copyright is one of the core elements of intellectual property rights, as it gives rights to an individual over their original works such as books, music, and articles. It authorises them to manage how their creations are to be copied or shared and protects them against unauthorised usage and financial exploitation. It helps in encouraging the artist and content writers to produce more original work as they can feel secure that their work won’t be misused.
Copyright laws ensure that the works of the creators are recognised and rewarded, and protects it from unauthorised usage, it promotes fair usage and limits the use of copyright material for purposes like commentary, criticism, and education. It helps in balancing the rights of the creators and the needs of the users, and the copyright committee can be involved to educate people and spread awareness on the importance of respecting copyright and promoting copyright materials.
II. Power and Function of Copyright Society
The Copyright Board (“the Board”) is constituted under the Copyright Act, 1957 (“the Act”) for the discharge of certain judicial functions, constituted by the central government. The Board was constituted in 1958 and consists of the Chairman (either a high court or a former high court judge or qualified for appointment as a high court judge) followed by two or more (maximum fourteen) members and the registrar of the copyright, who performs all the secretarial functions of the copyright board. They are appointed for a period of 5 years and are eligible for reappointment. Under section 12 of the Act, the court is responsible for hearing the appeals against the orders of the registrar of copyright and has the power to regulate its own procedure, the hearing is proceeded according to the division of zones and each bench is responsible to hear within its zone. India is divided into five zonal areas which are the northern, central, eastern, western, and southern zone, respectively.
Each bench should not consist of less than 3 members and there is a special bench consisting of 5 members if the issue is of utmost importance. If there is a difference in the decision of the individual members the opinion of the majority will be taken and if there is no majority the opinion of the chairman prevails, and any member shall not participate in any proceedings with personal interest.
The Board is also responsible to decide on the issue of publication and the date to determine the term of the copyright. It also settles disputes related to the assignment of copyright, grants compulsory licenses to publish the work, which is not published, helps rectify the registration of copyright applications and grants license to republish certain categories of literature, or artistic work.
The Registrar carries the information related to the register of copyrights with the title of the work, names and address of the authors, publishers and owners of copyright. Every entry made by the registrar is published in the official gazette under Section 50A of the Act.
III. Evolution of Copyright Laws
Copyright laws have evolved significantly in the past few centuries, starting from 1710 - the Statute of Anne (England) recognised as one of the first cases of copyright which gave the authors the exclusive rights to copy their work for a limited time. In the 19th century individual countries began to make their own laws based on the Statute of Anne and then in the early 20th century there was a need for copyright cooperation between the countries to protect and safeguard the work of the authors and owners. The TRIPS Agreement, 1994 set a minimum standard for the copyright protection which was a part of the World Trade Organisation (“WTO”). Next to which was the 1996 WIPO Copyright Treaty (“WCT”) and WIPO Performance and Phonograms Treaty (“WPPT”) which addressed the challenges of the digital era focusing on online contents. In India the Copyright Act of 1914 was enacted, which was influenced by the UK Copyright Act of 1911, but after independence, India enacted its own Copyright Act on 1957 which addressed many changes and aligned with international treaties and rules, until in 2012 India brought most of the changes and came in line with the WIPO Copyright Treaty.
In the case of IPRS v. Sanjay Dalia & Anr., It was established that the IPRS would have exclusive rights to collect royalties from the usage of copyright works performed publicly enforcing the importance of the Copyright Act.
IV. Introduction to Royalty
The Indian music industry is vast and continuously evolving as time passes, with new content coming up every single day, which includes a wide range of genres, languages, etc. This industry alone accounts for around 6% of the Indian Media & Entertainment sector’s overall income, or approximately INR 12,000 crore. The artists in this industry earn income from their work in the form of royalties. Royalty is a payment received by the rights holders, who are usually the artists, songwriters, composers, etc. whenever their music is reproduced, performed or used otherwise.
Royalty payments are crucial for the artists because they help compensate them for the countless hours they spend creating songs. They are paid by the institutions such as TV channels, radio stations, streaming platforms, etc., who use the music for various purposes. In India, for a musician to earn income through their work, they need to register their music with the Indian Performing Rights Society (“IPRS”), which is a non-profit organisation registered under the Companies Act, 2013 and the Copyright Act, 1957 as a copyright society. The IPRS is a copyright society which collects and distributes the royalties from the institutions that pay for the usage of music to the artists or anyone who holds the rights to that music. These kinds of societies are called Performing Rights Organisations (“PROs”) who collect payment of royalties on behalf of the rights holders of the music and distribute it to them in a proper manner.
V. Types of Royalties
Royalty payments are not universal all around the globe, it differs from country to country. In India there are a few different types of royalties and each of them have different rates and payout processes.
A. Mechanical Royalty:
Mechanical Royalties are earned by the rights holders of the music, each time the music is reproduced or distributed, which includes physical copies, that is, CDs, vinyl records, digital downloads and even when it is streamed in any streaming platform. For example, when a listener streams a song on Spotify, the rights holders of that song earn a mechanical royalty for that stream.
B. Performance Royalty:
Performance Royalties are earned by the rights holders of the music when it is played publicly, which includes radios, performances, background music in restaurants, etc. For example, when an artist performs their song at a concert, they earn performance royalties for every song they perform there at that time.
C. Sync Royalties:
Sync Royalties are earned when a music is used in sync with the visual media such as in movies, television shows, video games and so on. This kind of royalty is usually negotiated directly between the rights holders of the song used and the user of the music. For example, when an artist creates a song specifically for the use in a movie, the ones producing the movie will pay the sync royalty directly to the artist after negotiating with them directly instead of making the royalty payment to a PRO.
D. Print Music Royalty:
Print Music Royalty is given to the rights holder of the music when the sale of sheet music is made. A sheet music is a printed form of musical notation that indicates the pitches, rhythms or chords used in a song. For example, if a person studying instruments wants to play a song of their choice on that instrument, they purchase sheet music to know the chords and keys to play the song. When they do so, print music royalty is generated.
E. Neighbouring Royalty:
Neighbouring Royalties are earned by the rights holders and the performers of the song when it is played on the radio, in public places or on the television. This kind of royalty is similar to performance royalty but is specifically for the recorded version of the song. For example, when a song is played on the radio both the performer that is the radio station playing the song and the rights holders earn royalty for the use of that song.
All of these are the different types of royalty payments that are given to the music rights holders in India.
VI. Remedy for Unsatisfactory Royalty Distribution
In a situation where an artist is not satisfied with the royalty received by them or they are denied royalty payment by the users of their music. In such cases, they can first approach the Grievance Committee of the copyright society they are registered with. But, even after this if the situation is not resolved, they can approach the Copyright Board [AP1] and demand the payment of royalty from the users and if they are not satisfied with this either, they can file a civil suit for the same. However, if a music rights holder does not claim their share of the royalty for a long time from the users of their music, then it comes to be known as a ‘Black Box Royalty’ or unclaimed royalties. This can occur if the music rights holder is not registered with a copyright society and if they do not claim it within a specified period, it gets distributed to the local publishers based on the market share and the music rights holders would not be able to take any action against it.
VII. Conclusion
India’s copyright laws have improved significantly in the last few years and have aligned with the technological advancements and also helped in answering the gaps between the societies, it has proved its adaptability and dynamic nature, it enforced the transparent distribution of royalty and shared benefits with the creators, but there are many gaps still left to be addressed which can be done by bringing proper legal reforms and standardising royalty practices and focus on community centric utilisation to improve efficiency.
References:
1. Riddima Sharma, Royalty predicament of the authors of music works in India, MIPLC Master thesis series (2019).
2. Dr Shamim Khalid, The Copyright and her history, NTUT Journal of Intellectual property Law and Management, 27 (2022).
3. Kim Nayyer, Berne Convention, Globalization and Information: IPR law Implications, 5-6 (2001).
4. IPRS v. Sanjay Dalia and Anr. AIR 2015 SUPREME COURT 3479 (India).
5. Yuvraj Shidhaye, Shedding Light On The Evolving Landscape: Reclaiming Black Box Royalties In The Indian Music Industry, THE INDIAN MUSIC DIARIES,
6. Chaitanya Malhotra, Understanding All Types of Music Royalties, DELIVER MY TUNE,
7. Jatin, Understanding the Different Types of Royalty in the Music Industry, DELIVER MY TUNE,
8. Mayashree Acharya, What is IPRS License? - Procedure for IPRS License Online, Cleartax,
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