Evolution of Musical Copyright in India

It is trite to say that copyright is a bundle of rights. This truism is best demonstrated when a song is played on the radio or performed as part of a cinematograph film. Under the Copyright Act in India, copyright attaches to original literary, musical, artistic and dramatic works; sound recordings and cinematograph films. The creation of a song at the most basic involves the intermeshing of lyrics and musical composition (literary and musical copyrights) to supplement a singer’s performance, all these elements reduced to permanent form by way of their confluence in a sound recording or a cinematograph film. When played on the radio or performed as part of the film, the song brings into play a blend of these underlying rights as one final ensemble.

In the words of the celebrated jurist judge, Justice Krishna Iyar in the Indian Performing Rights Society Limited vs. Eastern India Motion Pictures Association (1977), “cinema is more than long strips of celluloid, more than miracles in photography, more than song, dance and dialogue and, indeed, more than dramatic story, exciting plot, gripping situations and marvellous acting. But it is that ensemble which is the finished product of orchestrated performance by each of the several participants, although the components may, sometimes, in themselves be elegant entities.