THE BUSINESS of melody is getting murky and nobody seems to have any potion for the malady that has put the song trade out of sync. In fact, the industry is yet to come to terms to what is actually afflicting it - piracy, FM boom, loopholes in the ancient Copyright Act, 1957, perfidy from within or mishmash of all mentioned.
"The Indian music industry has lost a whopping Rs.1,800 crores over the last three years to `illegitimate' music. Today, 40 per cent of the music in the market is pirated. Consumers should realise that we are not selling cassettes but music and are in the business to earn profit and can't reduce the prices further," laments V. J. Lazarus, president, Indian Music Industry.
However, the moot point is that consumers love to buy pilfered music. "This is strange as nobody buys a stolen car or scooter but no eyebrow is raised when it comes to music. Police can play its part to an extent but without the people's contribution this menace can't be controlled," says Julio Ribeiro, former super cop and now head of IMI's anti-piracy operations.
And what about the hubs like Palika Bazaar and Nehru Place, which are overflowing with such stuff, inviting the gullible.
"Yes, it's true that earlier it was hard to raid these markets but now in the last year, we have raided Palika seven times, Nehru Place four times and Lajpat Nagar twice with the desired results. We have got 27 convictions out of 1,634 cases, which may not be extraordinary but satisfactory enough considering the escape routes in the law," informs Prakash Singh, Head, Anti- piracy operations, North and North-east India at a recent press conference in New Delhi.
But, is it enough at a time when backrooms of music thugs are replicating compact discs by the millions? According to Lazarus, it is where the new security measure - holograms - comes in. This will help the consumer to distinguish the original from the pirated one. But are they interested?
"We are using optically variable device which means the properties of hologram change with the viewing angle and hence, it can't be scanned or copied and every image that we produce is registered with International Holographic Association," elaborates Manoj Kochar of Holoflex, a Kolkata-based company entrusted with preparing the IMI hologram. In a country where even the currency is not safe from copiers, the idea seems a bit far-fetched.
Then, there is a Pakistan connection to the story. Eight plants in Karachi are churning pirated audio and video by millions.
"Having already devoured their industry, now they are selling the pirated versions of Indian music in the U.K., the US and Canada," relates Ribeiro. "After government's tough stand and support of international bodies, they have devised new ways like using couriers and taking detours from as far as Australia."
Meanwhile, the companies are fighting a battle of remixes within themselves. Recently, a Delhi Court restrained Sony Music, a member of IMI, from carrying out any business or advertising of "DJ Heart Remix" holding it phonetically, visually and structurally similar to "DJ Hot Remix" of Super Cassettes, which is not in IMI fold but claims 60 per cent share in the market. The irony is that last year, the Madras High court passed similar injunctions on Super Cassettes for infringing the copyright of two successful albums of Times Music, "War Of DJs" and "Utsav Remix". Even Sony Music claimed to have threatened to take Super Cassettes to court for using the same songs and voice over in their "Yeh Hai Dance Masti", allegedly a copy of Sony's "Dance Masti... Again," finally settling for an out of court settlement. But this time they are ready for a legal battle if their spokesperson Parul Gosain is to be believed. Anil Kakkar, media executive, Super Cassettes, is silent about the past but showers the rival with all those charges that have been spelled against his company time and again.
Savio D' Souza, Secretary General, IMI, defending the member, alleges that those who have started the whole mess, are charging others. Actually, the problem lies with Section 52 1(j) of the Copyright Act, 1957, which allows "legitimate piracy" as D'Souza puts it. The clause allows any person to utilise the original archives and start production after two years of the commercial release, just by sending notice to the copyright holder and paying a paltry royalty amount.
Lazarus has a wish list to come out of this cesspool. "We want the government to delete the controversial clause, put the cassettes and CDs from electronic to software goods thereby reducing the sales tax/ VAT from the current 11to12 per cent to 4 per cent, increasing the term of imprisonment and amount of fine and a rise in the licence fees paid by FM channels, responsible for a 30 per cent down in sales."
Well, one gets to see that the `kaanta' is deep within and pain is on the rise but solution is not all about remix.
15th Sep, 2003
