Last Sunday, I announced that IPRMENTLAW is conducting its second roundtable virtual conference on July 26, 2020 at 5.30 pm on the topic “Legal challenges faced by the music industry doing business in India”.
This one week has been a roller coaster ride. I thought it was necessary to put out this post so that expectations are met straight. Not soon after I put out the announcement, the issue of the IPRS live streaming tariff scheme flared up. Some artist activists were informed that they would receive clarifications in the webinar being conducted on Sunday. There were memes made, hate messages circulated, in fact someone erroneously misspelt the blog as IPRSMENTLAW (later rectified it). Some senior artists wrote some not so friendly social media posts about our webinar. But I get the anger that stemmed out of the confusion caused by a poorly communicated tariff scheme.
I am thankful to IPRS for having issued the press release with clarifications and to Mr. Rakesh Nigam for doing interviews clarifying the issue.
So why this virtual conference and why should you attend this?
Our last virtual conference was a success due to the diverse views from different stakeholders on the issue of whether there a need to revamp the Copyright Act. [Read detailed report here].
A logical sequel to that conference was to hold a conference on the industry which is the most impacted by the Copyright Act and its amendments. But this conference is not just about the legal ambiguities. It is about the impact on the business faced by the music industry due to the legal challenges faced by them.
Originally, the panel was designed to have representatives from some of the global User Generated Content platforms as the legal issues pertaining to UGC platforms are the most unique and keep evolving by the day. Unfortunately, the UGC platform representatives could not confirm their participation.
This conference would be dealing with some of the most glaring legal challenges faced by the music industry:
- Performing rights– new opportunities and challenges in the post COVID world. The IPRS live streaming tariff scheme would also be discussed and not just superficially.
- Performers rights– fixed or unfixed/ live or recorded? – This is a classic legal debate which you cannot miss. The top legal experts on this subject would be speaking on this topic. Also, since we have global experts on the panel, we intend to take benefit of the opportunity.
- Radio royalties– the aftermath of the CRB 2010 order and IPRS vs Aditya Pandey judgement- this may sound a little technical to the non-lawyers. But if you are a part of the music industry, you would want to check this conversation out.
- Online licensing– what is the law and how are rates determined? – If we have experts on the panel, how can this topic not be discussed. An amazing opportunity to understand the business.
- Single window licensing– a possibility in the Indian legislative framework?- We have heard this many times. But let’s understand the global perspective and hear from the experts on whether this is a possibility?
- Roadmap for India- the way forward– I am hoping for some positivity out here and hearing some solutions from the experts.
| MEET THE PANELISTS | |
Mr. Atul Churamani-Managing Director, Turnkey Music & Publishing Pvt. Ltd |
Mr. Atul Churamani is currently the managing director at Turnkey Music & Publishing Pvt. Ltd. He has over 33 years of experience in the Indian music industry. He started in the music business as Manager International Music with CBS Gramophone Records & Tapes India Ltd. in 1987. He has worked with Magnasound India Ltd, Virgin Records India Pvt. Ltd, Saregama India Ltd and Onmobile Global Ltd. He has handled portfolios across divisions including International Music, Sales, Marketing, A&R, New Media, Publishing and Concerts. He was the driving force behind setting up the international publishing network for Saregama India Limited and started its digital business and the events business for the company’s international offices. He has helped create the Indian pop category and launched the careers of artistes like Baba Sehgal, Daler Mehndi, Shaan, Colonial Cousins and many more. |
CEO- Indian Performing Rights Society Mr. Rakesh Nigam |
He is at presently the Chief Executive Officer of The Indian Performing Right Society Ltd (IPRS). IPRS is the Society recognized u/s 33(3) of the Copyright Act 1957 for Musical Works & Literary Works performed along with the Musical Works by the Copyright Office, Government of India. He joined the Society in 2004. After passing his CA in 1989, worked with Fujitsu ICIM (Now Zensar Technologies) for Six years with responsibility in Finance, Treasury and Accounts. In 1996 shifted to New Delhi to join Cargill India Pvt. Limited (Cargill is the World’s largest Agriculture Trading and Processing Company) as Controller – Flour Milling and was responsible for setting up the Flour Mill and its Finance, Accounts, Administration and Licensing. He shifted to Saregama India Ltd (HMV) in 1999 to take over Copyrights as Revenue Stream and made Copyrights a Profit Centre, the revenues from Copyrights of Saregama grew from Rs 60 lacs in 1999 to Rs 4 Crores in 2003. Was with Universal Music (the world’s biggest music company) for a very short period of 16 months. |
Mr. Ali Sachedina- Vice President – General Counsel & Business Affairs – JioSaavn |
Ali Sachedina joined JioSaavn in April 2017 as and Vice President, General Counsel of Legal & Business Affairs. Based in New York and Mumbai, Ali oversees all of JioSaavn’s legal and regulatory affairs worldwide. Ali’s responsibilities include the development and implementation of all of JioSaavn’s risk mitigation and compliance processes, the management of data privacy and cybersecurity initiatives, the negotiation of complex content licensing and original content agreements, while providing strategic advice to JioSaavn’s management on wide spectrum of JioSaavn’s business development activities.
Ali joined JioSaavn with eighteen years of experience an entertainment attorney. As a solo-practitioner, Ali counseled clients – including multi-national media companies, Platinum award-winning hip hop and marquee Bollywood composers – on a wide array of transactions in the United States and India. From 2008 to 2012, he founded and successfully operated Kinetic Management, an artist management company considered by many as the gateway for independent artists from India into North America.
Ali is a graduate of the University of Virginia (B.A. Religion & Middle East Studies, Minor in Persian Language and Literature) and the University of Richmond School of Law. |
Mr. Neel Mason- Managing Partner at Mason & Associates |
Mr. Neel Mason holds a BA. LL.B. (Hons.) degree from the National Law School of India University, Bangalore and had 9 years’ experience working with a leading IP firm prior to setting up Mason & Associates in 2006.
Throughout his career Mr. Mason has dealt with diverse aspects of Intellectual Property Law with a primary focus on litigation. He has been involved with several path breaking decisions on Intellectual Property primarily in the areas of copyright and trademark law. Mr. Mason regularly advises clients on their trademark portfolios and works with clients to enforce and protect their rights, both in terms of litigation as well as prosecution. He has also done extensive work in the copyright sphere particularly in relation to the publishing and music industry as well as media and internet related issues. Mr. Mason is highly regarded amongst his peers and is a member of several national and international Intellectual Property Law associations and has spoken at numerous Intellectual Property seminars, conferences and other forums, including appearing before the Parliamentary Committee reviewing amendments to the Indian Copyright Act. He is currently serving as the Vice President of India Group of AIPPI (the International Association of Protection of Intellectual Property) and has received numerous accolades for his work in the field of IP in various peer reviewed journals and well-established organizations. |
Ms. Tanvi Misra- World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) |
Tanvi Misra is a commercial and intellectual property lawyer currently working as a Legal Consultant in the Copyright Law Division at the headquarters of the World Intellectual Property Organization. She has previously worked in the chambers of Mr. Akhil Sibal (Senior Advocate) and is a former employee of Anand and Anand.
Before joining WIPO in June 2018, Tanvi spent over 8 years representing a myriad of clients in courts on wide ranging issues related to intellectual property laws and commercial laws, while also partaking in negotiations and drafting contracts for various stakeholders in the copyright industry While accumulating experience in varied legal topics, Tanvi has from the very beginning of her career in 2009 developed a special interest in the field of copyright. She has extensively researched the evolution of copyright law in India i.e. from imperial times to its present-day form along with the international legal framework. She has been responsible for researching and drafting copyright lawsuits and has undertaken regular advisory work for protection and enforcement of rights (including moral rights) of the creative industry including advising on contractual issues and drafting assignment and license agreements. She has worked closely with collective management organisations in the music industry for underlying works, sound recordings and neighboring rights like performer’s rights. She has worked extensively for the book publishing industry on contractual aspects, litigation and has also undertaken several libel and defamation reads. For the arts and applied arts sector, apart from representing artists and art owners in Courts and negotiations, she has studied the nuances of the overlap of copyright with design rights and the legislative progression of such rights in other countries and has been the lead in the team challenging the constitutional vires of the provision in the Indian Copyright Act that limits copyright protection for the applied arts industry. She has co-authored the India specific chapter in the book titled ‘Cross Border Copyright Licensing’ by Edward Elgar Publishing (July 2018) and contributed chapters to books on copyright such as Copyright Litigation – Jurisdictional comparisons: Thomson Reuters (Second edition 2015) (Third Edition 2016); Getting The Deal Through (2015) and has been regularly writing for legal journals like Asia IP and World Trademark Review. |
Rafael Pereira Managing Partner- Tinnuts |
Rafael Pereira is an intellectual property strategist working at the intersection of Law & Business relating to Technology, Entertainment, Arts & Culture. He is the managing partner of Tinnuts a new age intellectual property law firm where he works with creators across disciplines and entrepreneurs across sectors. A Berkeley Law graduate, Rafael has built a career as an entrepreneur with multiple ventures in the Creative Industry in Southeast Asia. |
Moderator: Ms. Anushree Rauta- Founder, IPRMENTLAW |
Anushree Rauta is the Founder of IPRMENTLAW, the leading entertainment law blog in India. She started this blog in January 2018 as a knowledge sharing initiative in the less traversed field of media and entertainment law.
Anushree is considered to be one of the noted media and entertainment lawyers in India. She is currently a partner at ANM Global and heads their media and entertainment practice. |
Webinar link:
Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/92256180118
Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/iprment/
Date: July 26, 2020 (Sunday)
Time: 5.30 pm (IST)
