Each year, 20,000 to 25,000 original songs are made by over 40,000 music creators in India (this excludes remixes and music by the unorganized sector). Music is integral to streaming, films, television, radio, gaming, and social media. It helps generate over INR 12,000 crore of revenue in India, which is around 6% of the media industry. Indian songs are amongst the most popular in the world - they hold seven spots on the Top Ten YouTube Global Charts for 2022.
Of the INR 12,000 crore generated by music, recorded music revenues of labels have crossed INR 2,500 crore in 2022, while music publishing revenues will approximate INR 884 crore in 2022-23. However, India's global revenue ranking is far behind other developed markets.
As per the report, the industry could potentially see another doubling of music publishing revenues by 2026-27, to INR 16.9 billion – if the industry is able to address the issues holding it back.
One key to this is addressing the "abysmally low" copyright compliance rate of just 1.2%, the report said. Only 71% of music DSPs in the country have a license from the Indian Performing Right Society (IPRS), while 56% of short video platforms have a license. Fewer than 1% of retail establishments, hotels and restaurants have a license. This is also evident from the fact that One8 Kommune, a chain of restaurants run by Mr. Virat Kohli was recently pulled up by the Delhi High Court and prohibited from playing music in which Phonographic Performance Limited owns the copyright.
Among TV channels, 796 out of 905 aren't licensed with IPRS, while 1,033 of 1,035 radio stations have not taken a license from the copyright society, "some citing the lack of legal clarity, others believing that their payment for the use of sound recordings includes the payment of publishing right, " the report said.
The numbers clearly highlight a problem with copyright compliance, specifically in the music sector of the media industry. Furthermore, a lack of clarity regarding the applicable laws and requisite licenses, as well as definitive lack of rights by creators further compounds the issue.
Originally published 03 April 2024
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