Intellectual Property in Indian Classical Music

Though most composers of Indian Classical Music have historically identified their works with a recognisable watermark, nowadays, the act of claiming credit in this art form is frequently construed as mercenary and disrespectful to hallowed tradition. Given the highly commercial nature of music dissemination now, performers’ rights is a topic of urgency that the Indian Classical Music field has to concretely grapple with – especially as all ‘live’ performances have gone online.

A version of this article appeared in The Hindu. Many thanks to Sri. Anantha R. Krishnan, Sri. Viveick Rajagopalan and Ms. Sandhya Surendran.

Just asking questions is seen as being troublesome. “Nothing in our tAlIm (training) prepares us to negotiate today’s music world of royalties, contracts, licensing etc. The moment you say ‘here are the terms; please put them in writing,’ you will be met with hostility, and comments like ‘Even Pandit Ravi Shankar played for us. He never asked us for anything – who are you to ask?’” said Hindustani vocalist Shubha Mudgal. She was a panelist in Stop Record Play, a webinar on the topic of recording contracts, copyrights and creative hierarchy in classical music.

Organized by Mridangamela, an initiative by mridangists Viveick Rajagopalan and Anantha R. Krishnan, the other panelists were Sandhya Surendran, entertainment lawyer; Jataneel Banerjee, Founder and Artistic Director, Grand Philharmonica Orchestra in the UK and Aishwarya Natarajan, Founder, Indianuance, a production and consulting organization representing musicians.

Viveick explains. “The objective was to make the classical music community aware of their rights and get them to start asking questions. Our music is cloaked in bhakti, and rightly so, but if it is only that, why do music labels ask for legal rights for performances from the artistes? Artistes have substantial rights, actually.” Anantha adds, “We wanted artistes to know that it is within their rights to ask about these issues.”

There is a key legal distinction, said Sandhya Surendran, between ‘underlying rights’ referring to the lyrics and the melody, and ‘sound recording rights’ meaning the performers’ arrangement of the same.  It is only since 2012 that performers (currently only singers), vs. lyricists and composers have economic rights under the Copyright Act. Singers’ creativity in songs is officially recognised and they have rights to get shares in royalties. Earlier, only music composers and lyricists were entitled to financial recognition.

“In classical music, lyrics are often assumed to be ‘traditional,’” said Aishwarya Natarajan, meaning the composition is not proprietary. There is no legal definition of what makes a lyric traditional, though. In Hindustani music, there are many compositions that are extracted from literature or do not have a clear signature. Shubha mentioned that some of her own compositions had been referred to as ‘traditional’ by others singing it. She suggested all singers clearly give credit, and stated the provenances they were aware of, to establish a record. In Carnatic music, most composers have clearly identified themselves within their compositions.

Sandhya said vocalists who have cut albums can join The Indian Singers’ Rights Association at https://isracopyright.com/ which is a government recognised copyright society which can license recordings and distribute royalties. Though its current membership seems to be mostly singers from cinema, nothing precludes classical singers from joining. To Anantha’s question on claiming authorship for instrumental sequences, Sandhya explained it would be possible only if the instrumentalists were acknowledged as composers. Otherwise, since there is no registered copyright society in India for non-vocalists, their performers’ rights are currently non-enforceable.

Shubha Mudgal said she learned of the importance of contracts from bitter experiences, particularly one where she was sued for singing her own composition! She cautioned, “some of the biggest exploitation comes from the most celebrated, awarded and revered artistes in the country who often have not bothered to pay any part of their fee to their co-artistes.”

Jataneel Banerjee explained that the system in the UK is very clear – the label and the performers divide the proceeds of recordings equally. The performers’ part is further divided amongst the featured and non-featured performers. There are associations like Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) in the UK and Sound Exchange in the USA that undertake collective rights management of its members’ sound recordings.

Anantha wondered if there was a safe way for younger artistes who played with respected musicians to ask what they were signing up for, without a threat of their being pulled out of those concerts. While Jataneel said seniority plays no role in the UK, Shubha said hierarchies would exist and so would exploitation, and it was important to be aware of the same. Forewarned is forearmed, so to speak.  

Aishwarya advised, “Be aware of exactly what your obligation is.” Is it just the concert alone one is signing up for? Is there going to be recording? What will the recording be used for? Will there be a further income stream?  “If you are an accompanying artiste, ask the featured artiste if there are any agreements with the organizer beyond performing at the concert. Is there going to be any further commercial exploitation?” These could include commercial release later, using part, or all, of the program for other purposes etc. The panelists also agreed that every artiste in a performance has the right to decide they do not want a recording publicly shared. Aishwarya also urged artistes who do online performances (such as on Facebook Live) to ask for them to be taken down within a specified period of time.

Whether one decides to charge for a particular use of one’s performance or not, and how much to charge, is each individual’s prerogative. However, the panelists suggested that all artistes make themselves aware, ahead of performances, of all the uses of their work.  For those unaccustomed to contracts, Underscore Records, https://underscorerecords.com/ has free, downloadable, model letters of agreement, in plain English, as templates for both soloists and accompanists to use with organisers.

“We really do not want to be a litigious community known only for contracts and agreements to the detriment of music. However, we should be conscious of what we are signing up for and how much we are willing to give away,” concluded Shubha Mudgal.

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