Overview

Business units do not have the authority to play music in the public places for any commercial purpose without acquiring music license.  Copyright Act, 1957 made it mandatory for all the cafes, restaurants, hotels, pubs, bars, that play pre-recorded music in their premises, to obtain music license.

The Copyright Society for Sound Recording which Phonographic Performance Limited {PPL} issues music licenses for restaurants and cafes who wanted to play music on their premises.

If any business entity wants to keep singers in its premises for the purpose of singing or live concerts, the business will have to contact the Performing Rights Society of India (IPRS) for a license.

Cafes, restaurants, hotels, pubs, or bars cannot play music without a music license. The Government of India has made an obligation for these places to obtain music licenses before they start playing music on their premises. The purpose of this license is to give credit to the creator of the art for the creation of heart theft and at the same time it protects their rights.

Who can get a music license?

Any business that wants to play pre-recorded music on its premises must obtain a music license to avoid any form of restriction. The business unit can be in a hotel, restaurant, pub, events, mall, cinema hall, sports event, product launch, aircraft, or any other place where music is played.

Business personnel need an IRPS license if they are involved in the following activities:

• Public performance
• Band Performance
• Singers performing in your business

Benefits

• Through a music license, the artist can use the platform where they can showcase their talent to the whole world.
• Music license increases the popularity and awareness of an artist's particular song.
• An artist's creation is preserved through reducing the chances of stealing or copying the lyrics.
• The music license provides artists with various earning sources through various downloading sources, downloads, subscriptions, total number of views, and more.
• Artists enjoy the right to perform their work in an event, concert, broadcast, etc.

music license categories

• Music license for public performance in multiplexes, hotels, event premises, malls, pubs, banquets, etc.
• Music license for broadcasting music on television and radio.
• Music license for interactive and non-interactive music streaming over the Internet.
• Music license for caller ring back tune
• Music license for the use of sounds or music on commercial TV, advertising etc.

Penalty for the offender

Section 43 of the Copyright Act states that any person who violates copyright or other rights is liable for

• Statement of period less than six months which may extend up to three years and
• The offender is liable to pay a fine of less than fifty thousand rupees which may increase to two lakh rupees

Any person who infringes copyright or other rights as per Section 63 is accountable to

• Statement for a period of less than one year which may extend up to three years and
• Not less than one lakh rupees with fine which may increase to two lakh rupees

Required Documents

• Personal details like name, address, nationality
• Business Details
• Detailed list of music types you will play
• If you are in the LLP business, you must produce a certificate of incorporation
• PAN card
• GST Registration Certificate
• Address Proof such as Electricity bill, driver’s license, voter ID card

Types of license

The following types of music licenses are assigned to the artist for his creations:

• Sync License

  Under this method, music already created is synced with some visual media. A wide range of users such as TV commercials, advertising agencies, film studios, etc. have music licenses.

• Mechanical License

  The purpose of this license is to make artists’s creation available to the general public in the creation of CDs, publication of music online or any other form of distribution. Artists copyrighting their work are paid for an agreement signed by them to allow the distribution or entertainment of their original work. A mechanical license is also required to slightly alter original components such as remixes, add own songs, change anything of the original structure, etc.

• Master License

  The master license is more complex than other licenses and is issued in conjunction with the sync license. This license allows the holder of such a license to use a pre-recorded version of the song in any audiovisual project, but does not allow the song to be re-recorded.

• Public Performance License

  This license is the most common form of license issued to broadcast an artist's copyrighted work. This license is obtained by businesses in their jukebox with music or any kind of public performance such as a music festival.

Registration Procedure

• Begin the process of obtaining a music license by selecting a category or type for a music license, that is, in which the applicant wishes to obtain his music license.
• Account creation is done online on the official website of IPR. Start with selecting the type of license and then complete the required details like applicant's name, address & contact details of an applicant, Email-id, GST, password, and user-id for login credentials.
• On completion of the application, online verification is done through mobile OTP verification.
• Once the verification is complete, the online application through the payment gateway is completed by payment of government fees, after which the online receipt will be sent via SMS or e-mail.
• After successful registration, the IPRS license issues an identity card for an applicant, which implies the applicant's registration with the IPRS database.

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