Tuning Karnatic to copyright

One of the backbones of Copyright law is ‘aesthetic neutrality’ where the law is blind to the type of work and applies equally to all types/genres of work. This backbone has had concrete issues in India, in the field of classical music, as the genre had remained outside the purview of copyright law and its protection for long. It is time to augur a meaningful dialogue between copyright and Karnatic music to reduce the discordance that exists in their synchronisation.

There is a general presumption that copyright law does not apply to classical music. This is false and has no legal backing, as any musical creation, if original, is subject to copyright protection.

More importantly, Karnatic music contains not only the compositions of creators who had composed music prior to the inception of copyright that are already in the public domain but also a wide variety of compositions where the copyright still subsists as per the law.

The compositions of composers in the late 20th and the 21st centuries, such as Papanasam Sivan, M Balamuralikrishna, and Lalgudi G Jayaraman, do not garner the economic value that is rightfully due.

It is pertinent to mention that some of the aforementioned composers may have composed songs for movies as well, but a reference herein is made to only those compositions that are outside the realm of movies and remain within the Karnatic sphere. Although many movie songs have been based on popular Karnatic songs, there is no copyright protection offered ‘over the song’; the right is offered only over the specific rendition and its future use.

It is a common practice followed by the film industry to use a popular Karnatic song as part of the movie for long. The Malayalam movie Hridayam had Tyagaraja’s famous composition Nagumomu.

There is no copyright issue in this case, as the song is in the public domain. On the other hand, Veera raja veera from Ponniyin Selvan-2 is alleged to be infringing on the Shiva Stuti composed by the Dagar Brothers of the Dhrupad tradition, a matter sub judice before the Delhi High Court.

Similarly, there was an issue in the past regarding Kantara’s Varaha Roopam being infringing of Thaikkudam Bridge’s Navarasam. While the correctness or otherwise of the above claims before the court cannot be commented upon, it is evident that Karnatic music is not completely free from copyright licenses and
its issues.

When a song is used in commercial space, there are several copyright collection societies in play, such as Phonographic Performers Limited, which represents the music labels; the Indian Performers Rights Society, which represents the composers and lyricists; and the Indian Singers and Musicians Rights Association, which represents the singers and musicians. Such societies are actively involved in the collection of royalties from commercial establishments, radio broadcasting and television broadcasting.

These societies enhance the collective bargaining power of their stakeholders and enable them to collect and distribute the royalty—a task too cumbersome for an individual creator. Somehow, Karnatic music has not yet adopted this system.

It is true that there are few Karnatic musicians who are also part of the film industry and who are members of the above societies; however, there are hardly any Karnatic musicians in these societies outside of the film industry. In the past, certain popular Karnatic performers have complained that there was no royalty for any of their commercial rendering from its sales or from its streaming in the present. This issue can be solved by the active use of a copyright collection society that would facilitate negotiations of complex licences within Karnatic music.

Karnatic music today primarily remains within the walls of its Sabhas, where some events are ticketed, and in the digital space, where royalty is in play. The set-up revolves around the bargaining power and leaves the one with limited bargaining power to be dictated by the terms of the stronger.

As opposed to the difficulty faced by copyright collection societies in enforcing the rights in movie-based songs, due to problems of plenty, it would be easier to enforce the same in Karnatic music, as the cluster in which the songs are performed is relatively smaller.

Integrating classical music into the copyright setup may be a step in the right direction. With the help of copyright societies, the composer, singer and other performers would get their economic due through royalty collected by the collection societies, and in the digital space, the royalty could be streamlined. This would tune the copyright’s tambura in synchronisation with Karnatic music.

(Sundar is an academic lawyer associated with KIIT School of Law, and Amogh is an advocate practising at the Madras High Court)