Hotels hit odd note on music copyright fee

Last week, a restaurant in the Capital hit a sour note with the Indian Performing Rights Society (IPRS) when it refused to pay royalty for t...

Last week, a restaurant in the Capital hit a sour note with the Indian Performing Rights Society (IPRS) when it refused to pay royalty for the music it played. The result: it was reportedly stopped from playing the songs.

With remix fever hitting the country anew, the Mumbai-based IPRS has its hands full, more than ever since its formation in 1969. ‘‘You cannot get away with rape,’’ said Sanjay Tandon of the IPRS, part of the panel set up to examine copyright laws and suggest changes.

The IPRS, affiliated to similar organisations worldwide, has worked out 52-different tariffs for those who wish to play music for the public. For a restaurant, the royalty could be as low as the price of a soft drink while five-star hotels pay a nominal fee of Re 1 per day per room. Radio stations rate high, at Rs 750 per hour.

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Tandon said the organisation has raked in Rs 12 crore as royalty this year while it could go up to Rs 20 crore in 2004. One of the restaurants in the Capital that was forced to pay up said demanding a registration was unfair. ‘‘We are registered with Public Performers Ltd and have signed up with them. The IPRS is unnecessarily forcing us to get registered with them,’’ the managing partner of the restaurant said.

‘‘It’s like saying you will pay sales tax but no income-tax,’’ said an IPRS official. The IPRS insists only licence holders registered with the society can play music. Plans are also afoot to prevent recording companies from remixing a song before five years of its composition.

The IPRS has a ‘‘members relation department’’ to track down surviving family members of artistes and composers so that they can benefit from the royalty. Of the royalty collected, the IPRS deducts 15 per cent as registration fee while the remaining amount is distributed equally between the composer, writer, lyricist, film producer and the recording company or audio publisher. The IPRS is now working towards including the artiste as well.