Amendments to Copyright Bill shocking: ENIL

News of amendments to the copyright bill has sent shock waves amongst radio companies. The changes that are being mooted may not be advantageous for the companies and Prashant Panday, Executive Director & CEO of ENIL says, they have been caught by surprise.

The statutory licensing clause for radio has been dropped and Panday feels this could have an adverse impact on a monopolistic market like the music industry where statutory licensing for radio is a necessity. In an interview with CNBC TV-18, Panday talks about this recent development. Below is the edited transcript of his interview with CNBC-TV18. Also watch the accompanying video. Q: Have you heard of some seminal changes in the copyright bill which might work to your disadvantage? A: We have been caught by surprise because this was never on the anvil and we read some reports today that amendments have been made. The statutory licensing clause for radio has been dropped. This is a shocker because many years of deliberations have gone into putting this particular clause in. This is a global practice to accord statutory licensing to radio and this sudden move at the last minute is something that has caught us all by surprise. Q: Could you independently confirm that the clause has been dropped or is this a newspaper report you are alluding to and exactly how does it hurt you? Do you get charged by the music companies? A: Yes, it is independently confirmed. We have our own information that this in fact is a proposal that is being taken up. Whether it will be put through Parliament in this form or not remains to be seen but, it is a proposal that has been taken up and the amendments have been made. This will affect the radio industry in two ways. First and foremost it’s a pure logistics issue and the fact is that there are thousands of music labels and not all of them are under the industry body called Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL). Most of them tend to be independent and if there was no statutory licensing then radio broadcast has to go label by label and ask them for licences. The second problem is that the music industry by nature is monopolized and the moment you have a monopolistic situation, you do not have statutory licence. All the powers are with one body and that is why as a natural just practice worldwide, statutory licence is given to radio. Q: I guess radio guys are negotiating or at least trying to reach out to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry (I&B)? A: We have been caught by surprise. So we are trying to organise ourselves and yes, as an industry body and as an association we are going to make a strong representation. Basically, the radio broadcasters are not even informed about this story that the stakeholders have been consulted. In fact, my information is that even the ministry of I&B has not been consulted. Q: What stage is the bill in? A: It's with the ministry and according to what the report says, it is being introduced for a passage in the Lok Sabha today. So it’s in the last stage.