A royalty mess

Folk-rock act Fakira recently admitted to mid-day ahead of its debut online gig that it was confused by the IPRS circular

It seemed like a bolt from the blue. When The Indian Performing Rights Society (IPRS) released a draft circular earlier this month, it sent shockwaves among the independent music community. The copyrights body wrote that it was mulling the idea of charging '20,000 for those live online gigs under two hours that don't have any sponsors, and '60,000 for those that do. Many musicians had their head in their hands, because the circular left more questions than answers. Would people have to pay even for free gigs? What about performing songs that don't fall under the IPRS repertoire? And who would the money eventually go to? These were some of the questions doing the rounds among people in the music circuit.

But there are finally some clear-cut answers to these queries. Speaking exclusively to mid-day, IPRS CEO Rakesh Nigam states categorically that firstly, the previous '20,000 figure is now out of the window. Nigam says, "I am in advanced level talks with EEMA [Events and Entertainment Management Association, another industry body] about rationalising the tariff rate, and we should come out with a revised structure sometime next week."

Rakesh Nigam

He goes on to add that he is stating it loud and clear that for the next nine months, any free event - one where the performing artiste is not making money - will be exempted from the fees. "If you are making money, we want our share of the money from you. But if you aren't making money, we don't want any from you, even if there's an events manager who is organising the gig," Nigam says, adding that if musicians are not playing for free, but for a charitable cause, then the society is willing to make concessions, and that no retrospective fee will be charged for any event once the final tariff model is legalised.

Rohan Sequeira

That brings us to the question of having to pay even for songs that are not under the IPRS repertoire. Here, the equation is simple. A Mumbai-based lawyer who works in the media and entertainment industry tells us on the condition of anonymity that it is illegal for the society to charge even a penny for songs that they don't have the rights to. Nigam corroborates this, saying, "IPRS collects money only on behalf of its members. So, if a song is not theirs, what legal standing do I have to charge money for others playing it?" In other words, if you are an independent musician playing original songs, and your label is not an IPRS member, you won't have to lighten your wallet to play live music online. Similarly, people playing classical, devotional and folk songs won't have to loosen their purse strings either.

Which leaves the confusion about who the payments will eventually go to. This one's straight-up. Nigam says, "IPRS is not a profit-making body. It is a representative organisation for authors and composers of music." That's who the tariffs will be disbursed to, he adds. He says that the singer is the face of a song. But what about the lyricist and composer? "In these COVID times, we have to protect their interests as well."

Neil Banks

So, that should clear the air about some of the questions that had been flying around after the draft circular. But the biggest one remains. What will the eventual tariff structure be? We speak to Neil Banks of music events firm Gigatainment, and Rohan Sequeira, a musician who recently made a spoof video on the whole issue. Both of them tell us that it should be a model where IPRS charges artistes a percentage - say, 5 to 10 per cent - of their total earnings from a gig. Nigam also hints that the society is seriously considering charging a uniform percentage of the revenue that musicians make from a gig, instead of an absolute figure like Rs 20,000. What will it eventually be? Watch this space to find out soon.

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