Musicians, lyricists closer to royalties

Musicians, lyricists, computer programmers and digital content developers are closer to getting royalty for commercial use of their work.

Musicians, lyricists, computer programmers and digital content developers are closer to getting royalty for commercial use of their work.

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The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved a proposal to introduce a Bill to amend the Copyright Act, 1957. The proposed amendments will come into effect only after getting Parliament’s nod.

The amendments proposed by the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry include giving independent rights to authors of literary and musical works in films.

At present, the lyricist or music composer of a song is paid a one-time fee.

The artistes do not get royalty for any future use of their work in any form or from re-runs of films on television. Currently, only music firms and producers get royalty.

“The amendment is a step to protect the rights of creative people. The world over, artistes get royalty for the number of times their work [song, music, lyrics] is used. But in India, writers and musicians have been getting a raw deal,” said Bollywood writer Javed Akhtar.

Another amendment would ensure that the royalty from commercial use of songs — ring tones, Internet downloads or being aired on radio — reaches composers and writers.

The ministry has recommended an amendment to cover the digital medium, un-addressed by the exiting law.