In a move that will benefit the music entertainment industry, the government has decided to include Internet broadcasting under the purview of the Copyright Act.
Under the earlier provisions, ‘broadcasting organizations’ mainly covered radio and television. Now the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has brought Internet broadcasting under the ambit of the copyright law which will benefit audio streaming websites such as Saavn and Gaana.com.
“The provisions of section 31D (of the Copyright Act, 1957) are not restricted to radio and television broadcasting organizations only, but cover Internet broadcasting organizations also,” the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) said in an office memorandum.
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In a notification, DIPP said it has received representations from various stakeholders as to whether Internet broadcasting companies come under the purview of statutory licensing under section 31D of the Copyrights Act, 1957. “These representations were examined in consultation with concerned ministries/departments,” it said.
Since Internet broadcasting was not covered under the copyright Act so far, music rights owners used to have an upper hand in deciding royalties to be paid by streaming websites and were not bound to share the revenues with artists. Now, music companies such as T-Series, Tips and streaming websites have to approach the copyright board to decide royalty on songs, Livemint reported.
Commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman has also hinted about strict enforcement of the copyright law under its new intellectual property rights (IPR) policy. “We have to stop this. It tarnishes the image of the country,” Livemint report quoted Sitharaman as saying.