Mr. Sanjay Tandon, Founder & CEO of ISRA

Mumbai, 1st October, 2020, (GPN): It  is  evident  now especially  in  the  Covid  situation, platforms  like  Disney  +  Hotstar, YouTube,  Facebook, Triller,  Roposo &  Takatak  are  contributing  to the  infringement  of  the  Singers Right to  Receive  Royalty  by facilitating  the uploading,  sharing, streaming  as  well as  downloading of performances which  form  a  part  of ISRA’s members.  All  these  platforms generate  revenue  (through advertisements  etc)  by  virtue  of the performances  of  the  ISRA  Singer members  being  uploaded  on  its website(s).  It  is  also  known  that revenue has  been  earned  and  shared with  uploaders  BUT  neither  has ISRA or  the  Singers  have  received  any part of  it.  This  is  a  gross violation  of  the Singers  Right  to Receive  Royalty  as granted  under the  Copyright Act,  1957 in  2012.   ISRA  served  a  Legal  Notice on these  Platforms  with  a  request  to pay  up  the  Singers  their Royalties.

ISRA has  offered  an  opportunity  to  these  platforms  to  discuss  and  conclude  this  Copyright  obligation  that  falls  on them. The  Copyright  Amendment  Act,  2012  (“2012  Amendment”)  has  granted  the  performers/singers  inalienable Right  to  Receive  Royalty  (“R3”)  from  the  utilization/  exploitation  of  their  performances  by  any  means  and through  any  medium  of  diffusion  by  any  person/entity  at  any  place.  Therefore,  by  virtue  of  the  2012 Amendment,  the  Performer’s  Rights  Clearance  Certificate  (Collection  Clearance  Certificate  –  C3)  from ISRA  is  a  prerequisite  for  playing/performing  the  recorded  performance  of  the  members  of  the  ISRA  and  of its  affiliated  societies  by  paying  the  prescribed  Royalty  to  ISRA.  This  Clearance  Certificate  is  in  addition  to any  other  license  that  one  may  require  from  any  other  Copyright  Society(s).   This  is  a  new  Right  to  Royalty  which  has  come  into  being  with  the  recent  2012  amendments  and  is  in addition  to  any  Licenses  that  the  platforms  are  required  to  take  to  make  the  content  available.  The payment  to  ISRA  is  towards  “Right  to  Receive  Royalty”  (“R3”)  of  the  Singers  once  their  recorded performances  are  used/exploited  for  commercial  use. Says,  Mr.  Sanjay  Tandon,  Founder  &  CEO  of  ISRA  “Singers  ought  to  get  their  rightful  dues  as  stipulated  by the  Copyright  Act  and  ISRA  is  all  set  to  enforce  their  Right  to  Receive  Royalty  and  procure  for  the  Artists of  the  Country  their  Royalty.  The  Indian  Parliament  Unanimously  accorded  this  Right  to  Singers  in  2012  and ever  since,  ISRA  has  been  collecting  &  distributing  Royalties  to  the  Singers.  Unfortunately,  the  major  Users stull  refuse  to  adhere  to  their  copyright  obligation  towards  Singers  and  this  is  very  sad.  These  Users  main source  of  revenue  is  the  Singers  performances  and  they  decide  to  ignore  paying  them  especially  during  these trying  Covid  times.  It  is  such  a  Shame.  Members  of  the  public  access  these  platforms  due  to  their  love  of music  and  their  artists  and  are  made  to  pay,  BUT  the  benefit  from  this  is  not  passed  onto  the  Singers!  He further  assures  “We  are  Singers  and  we  don’t  believe  in  noise  but  in  melody  and  harmony  and  that’s  why  we expect  Users  to  respect  Singer’s  and  their  newly  given  Right  to  Receive  Royalty  (R3)  and pay  up  the  royalties without  any  fuss,  thereby  showing  that  they  really  care  for  Singers  and  their  contribution.  We  have  indicated that  we  would  not  like  to  disturb  the  Courts  for  this  and  are  open  to  conclude  this  issue  amicably  in  the  spirit of  building  a  relationship”, stated in the press release. ENDS