Business units do not have the authority to play music in the public places for any commercial purpose without acquiring music license. Copyright Act, 1957 made it mandatory for all the cafes, restaurants, hotels, pubs, bars, that play pre-recorded music in their premises, to obtain music license.
Copyright Society for Sound Recording which is Phonographic Performance Limited {PPL} issues music license to the restaurants and cafes who wanted to play music in their premises.
In case, any business unit is willing to have singers in their premises for the singing or live concert purpose then business have to approach Indian Performing Rights Society (IPRS) for the license.
Cafes, restaurants, hotels, pubs, or bars cannot play music without holding music license. Government of India has made it an obligation for these places to obtain the music license before they start playing music in their premises. The purpose of this license is to give credit to the creator of the art for heart stealing composition and at the same time it safeguards their rights.
Who can obtain a Music License?
Any business who wants to play pre-recorded music in their premises should acquire music license to avoid any forfeit. Business unit can be a hotel, restaurant, pubs, events, malls, cinema halls, sports events, product launch, aircrafts or any other place where music is played.
Business Personnel Need IRPS License If They Are Involved In The Following Activities:
- Public performances
- Band performances
- Singers performing at your business
Types of Music License
Following types of music license are allotted to the artist for their creations:
Sync License
Under this method, music already created is synced with some visual media. A broad range of users such as TV commercials, advertising agencies, film studios, etc. holds music license.
Mechanical License
The purpose of this license is to make artists’s creation available to the general public in the creation of CDs, publication of music online or any other form of distribution. The artist having copyrights of their work is paid for the agreement signed by them to allow the distribution or recreation of their original work. A mechanical license is needed even for making a slight change in original components such as remix, adding own lyrics, changing anything of the original composition, etc.
Master License
The Master license is complex than other licenses and is issued in conjunction with sync license. This license allows the holder of such license to use the pre-recorded version of the song in any audiovisual project but doesn't allow re-recording the song.
Public Performance License
This license is the most common form of a license issued for broadcasting an artist's copyrighted work. This license is obtained by the businesses playing music in their jukebox or any kind of public-performance such as concerts.
Penalty for the Offender
Section 63 of the Copyright Act says that any individual who breaches the copyright or other rights is accountable for
- Detention for a period of not less than six months which may extend upto three years and
- Offender is liable to pay a fine of not less than fifty thousand rupees which may extend to two lakh rupees
As per Section 63 A any individual who infringes the copyright or other rights is accountable for
- Detention for a period of not less than one year which may extend to three years and
- With a fine not less than one lakh rupees which may extend to two lakh rupees