http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/513802/Soon, royalty rights for singers, lyricists
Anubhuti Vishnoi Posted online: Monday , Sep 07, 2009 at 0313 hrs
New Delhi : After decades of movie making, the Centre is set to frame
laws to restore the dignity of creative artistes working behind the
screen and give them their due. In a slew of amendments proposed in
the Copyright Act, 1958, the Human Resource Development Ministry has
proposed that creative artists like lyricists, playback singers, music
directors, film directors, dialogue writers among others should be
paid royalty every time the film they have worked for is aired on any
TV channel. The new laws will also accord certain “unassignable
rights” to creative artists whenever their work is used for another
purpose.
The Information & Broadcasting Ministry is also in agreement with the
proposed amendments that are in keeping with the World Intellectual
Property Organisation’s (WIPO) delineated rights of an artist. The
amended law will soon be sent to the Cabinet for approval.
The move has come after intervention by the likes of lyricist Javed
Akhtar, singer Shubha Mudgal, ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh among
others, who made a representation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
complaining that though creative work was used in films and by
channels over and over again, the monetary benefits were never passed
on to them after they had completed their assignment with a filmmaker.
So, while the producer earns royalty every time his movie is aired on
a channel, the creative artistes do not get a share. Often, such
artistes face economic setbacks on retirement.
“The idea is that you cannot buy creativity. The amended law will
accord ‘unassignable rights’ to creative artistes. One will be the
‘moral right’ in keeping with the WIPO rules, so that every time such
an artiste’s work is used, his name will have to be mentioned. So if a
song is used on any channel, in any other film, or in whatever format,
the singer, lyricist and music director will have to be given credit
for the same. That apart, creative artists will be accorded the ‘right
of integrity’ — without the permission of the concerned artists, the
material he created cannot be changed. If the product is sold to a
third party, creative artistes will get royalty at rates fixed by the
Copyright Board,” said a highly-placed official.
That apart, the copyright period of a film is also set to be extended
from the current 60 years to 70 years, provided the film producer
enters into a royalty sharing agreement with the director as well.
The proposed amendments further protect the interest of singers and
musicians by suggesting that a remix or “cover” version of any song
would require a prior licence from the original owner of the song.
Also, all copyright fee will be waived off for all categories of
disabled people in usage of special content designed for them like
e-books. In keeping with the HRD Ministry’s 100-day agenda, online
registration of copyright will be initiated next week on.
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