MUMBAI: IPRS Celebrates its iconic 52 years’ journey.  

Speaking on this milestone Radioandmusic got in touch with Mr. Rakesh Nigam, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of The Indian Performing Right Society Ltd (IPRS)

Rakesh Nigam has been with IPRS since 2004, he shares his experience in safeguarding artists rights, “Personally, very satisfying, to see the company growing not only in terms of revenue but also distribution. We have distributed Royalty of over INR180 Crores to authors, composers, and publishers. It also supported the music creator community economically hit by pandemic by releasing Covid Relief Fund of nearly INR6 Crores in three instalments. Everything came out beautifully till today and will continue for the long term”.

IPRS sailed through the pandemic “innovatively” Initially they didn’t realise what was happening in the first 2-3 months of the pandemic, they then regrouped themselves to look at the sources of revenue to keep them surviving. Hotels, restaurants and public places completely shut down, and they had to keep the company running. That’s when they started digital revenue, and whatever income they get they decided to distribute to the authors and composers. “Everyone worked overnight with systems and procedures to reach out the money to all. Initially it was difficult to process but everyone extended their arms and worked together and distributed it to all members” and has been successful in upholding the author composer community.

There were also a group of authors and composers who were not very fortunate, during April-June 2020 IPRS distributed twice financially to them which helped them to survive the pandemic. “We can’t reach out to every single one but as long as we are concerned, we made sure that no one should go hungry”.

OTT guidelines and benefit to authors composer community

If you see the last 15-18 months OTT subscription for both audio and video has increased many folds, as all new movies are shown in OTT as theatres and public gatherings are closed for the pandemic. All music and films are released in OTT platform only, OTT is now giving the chance to non-film music creators to showcase their music. Secondly there is too much music consumed in the OTT platforms. Unfortunately, India does not have a complete monetization model, so most of the music which is played in a free player model, there is no subscription. Internationally all the models are paid, that is why there is a huge value gap between what should have been paid and what is being paid.

Mr. Nigam emphasised on how Piracy of music affects the lives of artists, “Piracy is a global problem. When people just Pirate, you are not ensuring that no one gets paid for it. If you do not pay the creators ultimately, we as listeners, subscribers suffer culturally and monetarily”. There will be no money to be paid back, and there will be lesser and lesser creators. “Piracy should be stopped and should not be encouraged”, he adds.

For the future roadmap for 2022 for IPRS, they want to focus on robot society and have to be systems driven, that is why they are tying up with software providers globally where most of it will be digitally driven. Members can access their account and upload their work; it is open for all people to apply for a licence and is not required to be physically present.   

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