New Delhi: Music royalty has been burning issue for a longtime now as the Copyright Board is yet to take a decision on the issue and it seems that it's only after the intervention of Information and Broadcasting Ministry that both music and radio industries are ready to start fresh talks.
The Information and Broadcasting Ministry had held a meeting on friday morning between the music and radio industries representatives along with the registrar of Copyrights and secretary, HRD to initiate a fresh process for nationalising music royalties for radio.
Speaking to Radioandmusic.com, a senior official of I&B Ministry said, "The Ministry had called the meeting to provide an opportunity to both music and radio industries to share their views. And the only positive outcome of the meeting has been that representative from both the industries are now willing to begin fresh talks on the whole issue. Earlier there was an atmosphere of mistrust between both the industries so much that none of them were willing to have a dialogue on the issue."
Earlier on 16 May, 2008, the Supreme Court in its order had stated that the Copyright Board was the constitutional authority to decide on royalty rates for the industry for automatic licencing.
"As radio operators we are always willing to hold fresh discussions with the music industry. Also in today's meeting the Information and Broadcasting Ministry was conveyed about problems related to the issue of high royalty that are charged from the radio broadcasters in India", added Association of Radio Operators for India (AROI) head Music Royalty Committee and Radio Mantra director Rahul Gupta.
In the meantime, if the Copyright Board decides to take a call on the issue of music royalty then there would be no need for the music and radio industries to negotiate on the royalty rates.
New Delhi: Music royalty has been burning issue for a longtime now as the Copyright Board is yet to take a decision on the issue and it seems that it's only after the intervention of Information and Broadcasting Ministry that both music and radio industries are ready to start fresh talks.
The Information and Broadcasting Ministry had held a meeting on friday morning between the music and radio industries representatives along with the registrar of Copyrights and secretary, HRD to initiate a fresh process for nationalising music royalties for radio.
Speaking to Radioandmusic.com, a senior official of I&B Ministry said, "The Ministry had called the meeting to provide an opportunity to both music and radio industries to share their views. And the only positive outcome of the meeting has been that representative from both the industries are now willing to begin fresh talks on the whole issue. Earlier there was an atmosphere of mistrust between both the industries so much that none of them were willing to have a dialogue on the issue."
Earlier on 16 May, 2008, the Supreme Court in its order had stated that the Copyright Board was the constitutional authority to decide on royalty rates for the industry for automatic licencing.
"As radio operators we are always willing to hold fresh discussions with the music industry. Also in today's meeting the Information and Broadcasting Ministry was conveyed about problems related to the issue of high royalty that are charged from the radio broadcasters in India", added Association of Radio Operators for India (AROI) head Music Royalty Committee and Radio Mantra director Rahul Gupta.
In the meantime, if the Copyright Board decides to take a call on the issue of music royalty then there would be no need for the music and radio industries to negotiate on the royalty rates.
