South Indian Music Companies Association ties up with Phonographic Performance to monetise library

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Waking up to the issue of legitimate usage of pre-recorded music, members of South Indian Music Companies Association (SIMCA) have entered into an agreement for monetising its public performance rights with Phonographic Performance (PPL).

With the likes of big south India players 5 Star Audio, Star Audio, Satyam Audio, Amudham Music, Millenium Audio, Symphony Recording Company, Mass Audio, Nadham Audio, Melody, Modern Cinema and 45 other record labels coming on board, PPL would be able to increase its offering in classics from maestros like SP Balasubramanyam, KJ Yesudas, Chitra and MS Subbulakshmi.

This tie-up gives PPL access to 1,00,000 sound recordings from films, independent and devotional albums, songs from Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Sanskrit and Malayalam and takes PPL's library to 3,00,000 songs from across India.

The tie up also takes PPL's membership base to 317 from 273 record labels.

PPL India is a Collective Rights Management Organisation affiliated globally to International Federation of Phonographic Industries.

Method

"PPL owns as assignee, and exclusively controls public performance rights and radio broadcasting rights of more than 20 lakh international and Indian songs of its more than 300 members. All licences granted and issued by PPL are non-exclusive, conditional and for limited purpose and period," said Rajat Kakar, CEO and MD of PPL.

"There are various categories of licenses depending on the usage of music which is granted in exchange of a tariff. Since we are a non-profit company once we recover our cost we pass on the money made to our members in proportion to their market share," Kakar added.

Subject to the Copyright Act of 1957, it is mandatory for all those who play pre-recorded music in the form of gramophone records, music cassettes or CDs or Radio or TV or audio-visual, for non-private purpose or in public places and/or commercial establishments and/or non-commercial establishments, to take prior licence from Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL).

However, according to Kakar, only 10 percent people who use music for various purposes willingly pay for licenses.

With the tie up with SIMCA, PPL attempts to have a more pan-India library alongside getting more licensed users of music on board.

SIMCA members presently have a little over 60 per cent market share in the south Indian music market and they monetise its content on radio and digital platforms directly.