Music row hits event organisers

BANGALORE Fashion Week's dream run is over with a licensing body saying the organisers used pirated music for their show.

BANGALORE Fashion Week's dream run is over with a licensing body saying the organisers used pirated music for their show.

Phonographic Perfor-mance Ltd (PPL), the apex licensing arm of the Indian music industry, has lodged a complaint with the police commissioner against Dream Merchants, the event managers of Blenders Pride Bangalore Fashion Week, and Hotel Ottera where the event was held, for violating the Copyright Act, 1957.

u00a0According to PPL, the company did not have a valid licence to play the music it did during the shows between July 23 and 26.

"Playing commercial music without paying the requisite licence fee is an offence," said Sowmya Chowdhry, country head (events), PPL. "Theu00a0 violation amounts to infringement of copyright as described in Section 51 of the Copyright Act. We have decided to resolve it in the court of law."



The offence

PPL, a copyright society registered under Section 33(3) of the Copyright Act, is a governing body of over 200 members from the Indian music industry and several from across the world.

It licenses hotels/pubs to play music during events/parties on their premises. PPL mainly authorises reproduction of the sound recording, the performance of the sound recording in public, its broadcast and inclusion in a programmeu00a0 service.

NO THANK YOU FOR THE MUSIC: The licensing arm of the Indian music industry is determined to take organisers of Bangalore Fashion Week to court if they don't pay up for the music they played pics/ Ramesh HS

The tariff is calculated based on the number of hours the music is to be played and the number of people expected for the event.

'Blackmail'

Dream Merchants, however, denies the charges. "They are blackmailing us and trying to defame a reputed company," said S Mahajan, a Dream Merchants executive who handled the event.

"We were ready to pay but they don't have a standard price tag. They are only trying to create hungama."

'We pay'

Other event managers say the price tag depends on the event, number of people attending and the tracks used.

"The licence fee for a book mela is different from the fee for a fashion show," said Raghavendra Shetty, MD, Eventshouse. "We pay the fee PPL prescribes after we submit our proposal. This has been the norm and we have been following it for the past two years," he said.

Garuda Mall also pays PPL for playing tracks every day and during special events.

"We pay about Rs 2 lakh every year based on the usage and tracks we choose. Negotiations regarding the licence are carried out with PPL," said M R Nandeesh, manager, Garuda Mall.

Tough stand

The organisers of BFW will be tried under Section 63 and 64 which describe the nature of the offence, procedure of trial and quantum of punishment.

"We have the required evidence to prove the violation. We are sure they will not be allowed to organise any event till they pay their fees with the fine," added Chowdhry.