City hotels say the party is still on

The city’s five-star hotels are not worried about Phonographic Performances Limited (PPL) dragging them to court over unpaid royalties for music owned by PPL, which the hotels will play at New Year parties on Thursday.

The city’s five-star hotels are not worried about Phonographic Performances Limited (PPL) dragging them to court over unpaid royalties for music owned by PPL, which the hotels will play at New Year parties on Thursday.

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A senior official at Juhu’s JW Marriott hotel, which is one of the hotels taken to court by PPL — India’s only music licensing company — said: “We’ve procured all necessary licenses, including PPL and IPRS, for our New Year’s Eve party.”

For other events around the year, PPL licenses have to be obtained by the hotel hosting the event, the organiser (if any) and the DJ hired to play the music.

DJ Lloyd, who will play at Marriott’s New Year bash said: “I have a PPL license, which lets me play music owned by PPL. I don’t know about this court development. I’m sure Marriott has obtained their licenses. Ultimately, artists and DJs like us suffer the consequences of these last minute rules. This seems to be a money-making racket — to enforce laws just before a major event.”

PPL dragged 17 Mumbai hotels, including Taj Lands End and Leela Kempenski to the high court, saying they were playing copyrighted music without paying royalty.