World Intellectual Property Day Panel Discussion

On the occasion of World Intellectual Property Day on 26th April 2021, stalwarts from the Indian music industry got together to discuss the changing landscape of music in India and why fair trade of music is critical on a panel named ‘Heading Towards a Healthy Ecosystem in Music in India’ organized by the Indian Performing Right Society Ltd. (IPRS), in association with Iprmentlaw and Indiantelevision.com.

The panelists included Rakesh Nigam, CEO- The Indian Performing Right Society Ltd. (IPRS), Atul Churamani, Managing Director, Turnkey Music & Publishing Pvt. Ltd, Tarsame Mittal, Founder, TM, Talent Management, Heena Kriplani, Head, TuneCore India, Raju Singh, Music Director, Aditya Gupta, Director, Aditya Music, and Harsh Kaushik, Counsel, Supreme Court of India. The discussions were moderated by Anushree Rauta, Founder, Iprmentlaw, and Anil Wanvari, Founder and Editor in Chief, Indiantelevision.com group.

As the entertainment world rapidly moves towards digitalization and online content gaining increasing importance, the need to protect the rights of the content creators has become crucial.

With more and more players setting up their Intellectual property (IP), the role of the rights protecting societies gets the spotlight.

Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names, and images used in commerce. While digitization has empowered creators and taken the music far and near, the creator stands a higher risk of his/her creative ideas getting copied and snags in enforcing his/her rights.

IPs are protected in law by, for example, patents, copyright, and trademarks, which enable people to earn recognition or financial benefit from what they invent or create. By striking the right balance between the interests of innovators and the wider public interest, the IP system aims to foster an environment in which creativity and innovation can flourish.

“Kudos to IPRS for organizing an interesting webinar on World Intellectual Property Day. The points made in this engaging session have value to composers and authors of all generations so those who missed it should watch the recording,” said Churamani.

Adding to Churamani’s views, Singh expressed,

“First of all would like to wish everybody this world intellectual day. It was a great experience to be a part of a panel with experts of different fields. Understanding all sides’ perspectives is so important and there should be more talks like these as it opens our minds to see how everyone sees the future of the music industry. It was very informative for sure.”

Here below are a few highlights from the discussion as expressed by the panelists.

“IP rights of the creator needed to be protected as IPs are vital to the industry. They form the base on which other blocks are created or recreated. The originator has to be acknowledged and rewarded so IP rights need to be formalized.”

Heena Kriplani, Head, TuneCore

“Speaking as a composer/musician IPs are the core existence of what we can create. It is a shield of protection for what we create and aids the creator to benefit from it.”

Raju Singh, Composer

“The backbone of the entertainment industry is IP. Whatever we are creating is protected by IP rights.”

Atul Churamani, Managing Director, Turnkey Music & Publishing Pvt Ltd

“The royalty business in India is very confusing. The ongoing debate is if the song recording is exploited, the underlying works need to be compensated or not?”

Harsh Kaushik, Counsel, Supreme Court Of India

“The copyright-related laws should be such that they help the business. We need to create an environment where people pay for the music they listen to. There should be a cost attached to music.”

Rakesh Nigam, CEO- The Indian Performing Right Society Limited (IPRS)

“The pandemic struck our business very badly. The majority of our business comes from Live shows. It became zero when the pandemic struck. We looked for alternatives and somehow survived.”

Tarsame Mittal, Founder, TM, Talent Management

“Luckily for us, last year went well because of new digital platforms and the consumption increased digitally. There were a lot of new releases in the regional market. Earlier the distribution was a hurdle. But now with the deep penetration of internet and smartphones, the hurdle is cleared.”

Aditya Gupta, Director, Aditya Music

Click on the link to watch the session on IPRS Youtube channel   :   https://youtu.be/TJrzuxbRlUY

– Hardik Joshi