PTI:
As
proliferation
of
pirated
music
CDs
and
illegal
downloading
of
songs
from
the
Internet
cost
annual
losses
of
Rs
1200
crore
to
the
industry,
musicians
are
now
banking
on
a
new
way
of
earning
royalties.
Under
the
initiative
of
the
copyright
body
Indian
Performing
Right
Society
(IPRS),
hundreds
of
lyricists,
composers
and
music
companies
earn
handsome
royalties
each
time
you
groove
to
their
tunes
at
a
hotel
or
a
discotheque.
Late
music
composer
Salil
Chowdhury's
wife
Sabita,
who
hardly
got
any
royalty
from
the
album
sales
of
his
evergreen
numbers,
now
earns
around
than
Rs
4
lakh
on
an
average
each
year
as
royalties
earned
from
IPRS,
which
collects
Public
Performance
License
fees
from
all
playing
music
commercially.
"Most
of
the
music
companies
don't
pay
me
royalties
as
the
legal
heir
to
my
husband.
Artistes
are
always
lost
in
their
own
world
of
creativity
so
we
are
unable
to
keep
track
of
all
these
things.
But
through
IPRS,
I
am
happy
to
be
earning
regular
royalties," she
told
PTI.
The
Burmans,
which
has
produced
the
iconic
father-son
duo
of
S
D
Burman
and
R
D
Burman,
has
similar
tales
as
they
have
earned
more
than
Rs
1
crore
by
way
of
IPRS
royalties
in
the
last
four
years,
officials
of
the
Society
said.
Veteran
musician
Mrinal
Bandyopadhyay,
now
in
his
seventies,
says
the
royalty
cheques
he
receives
each
year
helps
him
take
care
of
his
expenses
in
old
age.
According
to
industry
figures,
the
physical
sales
of
recorded
music
has
dropped
by
5
per
cent
to
Rs
299
crore
in
2010
while
digital
sales
and
revenues
through
performing
rights
have
increased
by
over
40
per
cent
to
Rs
432
crore.
"Over
the
years,
consumption
of
music
has
increased
by
"Over
the
years,
consumption
of
music
has
increased
by
50
per
cent
but
monetisation
has
fallen
by
50
per
cent.
This
is
because
newer
formats
have
come
up
for
making
music
available," says
IPRS
CEO
Rakesh
Nigam.
Besides
families
of
other
late
music
personalities
like
Pulak
Bandyopadhyay
and
Hemanta
Mukhopadhyay,
prominent
Bollywood
musicians
like
AR
Rahman,
Anu
Malik,
Gulzar
and
Bappi
Lahiri
are
all
members
of
IPRS.
Under
the
Copyright
Act,
1957,
the
Society
is
the
exclusive
licensing
authority
for
public
performances
of
live
or
recorded
tracks.
The
license
fees
collected
from
hotels,
restaurants,
pubs,
shopping
malls,
etc
for
playing
commercial
music
are
distributed
as
royalty
to
its
members
-
lyricists,
composers
and
music
companies.
IPRS
has
also
been
demanding
royalties
from
FM
channels
and
television
reality
shows.
IPRS
gives
30
per
cent
of
its
net
collection
to
the
composer,
20
per
cent
to
the
lyric
writer
and
50
per
cent
to
the
music
company.
IPRS'
regional
manager
Avishek
Basu
says
some
of
the
commercial
establishments
in
Kolkata
were
still
not
paying
them
license
fees.
"We
have
even
sent
them
legal
notices
and
will
take
them
to
court
if
they
continue
to
violate
the
copyright
of
our
members," he
says.