Performers
The 1994 Amendment of the Indian Copyright Act
provided for the first time, some protection to all performers by means of
‘Performer’s Rights’. Performer’s
rights cover any visual or acoustic presentation made live by one or more performers.
The performers include “an actor, singer,
musician dancer, acrobat, juggler, conjurer, snake charmer, a person delivering a lecture or any other person who makes
a performance”. As per the new Act,
performer’s consent is required for making any audio or audio-visual recording of the
live performance and for communicating the performance to the public. Performer’s rights are given in the new
section substituting the section 38. The new
section 39 specifies the cases where broadcast reproduction right or performer’s
right shall not be deemed to be infringed. These
provisions are analogous to those contained in section 52 of the Principal Act.
During the survey we had contacted more than
100 performers from various categories such as singers, actors, dancers etc. (detailed
break up in table-7.1). Most of these
performers (93 Percent) are professionals. We
asked for information on their public performances for the period June 1995 (since
the new Act became effective) to March 1997. Available data indicate that extent of violations
in both audio and video rights and broadcasting rights of performers are hovering around
20 percent during the period (Table-7.2). The
extent of violation is calculated in terms of performance where audio/video recording and
/or broadcasting of performances have taken place without the consent of performers
as a percentage of total performances.
Unauthorised recording (audio or video) and
/or broadcasting of performances cause monetary losses to the performers. Survey data reveal that 19 percent of the sample
performers admitted loosing because of unauthorised recording and/or broadcasting of their
performances. But when asked about the amount
lost due to such violations, very few of the respondents could give any meaningful
information. That is why no estimate could be
made based on data collected through
structured questionnaires. However, some estimate can be arrived at from data available
from secondary sources and information obtained while
discussing with some of the performers. The
performers admitted of loosing on an average of Rs. 1000 per performance in case of
unauthorised use (by others) of their performances. This
amount can vary across the performers depending upon the type of performance (e.g. musical programme, dance
programme, drama etc.) and the popularity of the performer(s) concerned.
The 1991 census data show India had 299 urban
centres having population of one lakh or more . If
we assume there are 300 such cities/towns at
present and on an average one performance is taking place daily during the year, the total
number of performances in a year in urban India amounts to 10,9500. Survey findings show the average extent of
violation of performer’s rights in 1996 stood at 21 percent. This implies that in the case of about 23,000
performances, the performer’s rights are violated in some form or the other.
Assuming a loss of Rs.1000 per performance, the
amount lost due to such violations comes about Rs. 23 crores annually. This figure can, at best, be considered as a rough
estimate of actual loss. In the absence
of any concrete information in this regard, this can serve as an indicator of the loss
suffered by the performers.
Table
7.1 : Category wise Number of
Respondents
| Category |
Number |
| Actors |
23 |
| Singers |
31 |
| Dancers |
8 |
| Musicians |
31 |
| Total |
101 |
Source : NPC Survey
Table
7.2: Extent of Violation in Performer’s Rights
| Year |
Violaion(%)of Audio/video Rights |
Violation (%) of Broadcasting Rights |
| 1995 |
23 |
21 |
| 1996 |
23 |
18 |
| 1997 (upto
June) |
21 |
19 |
Source : NPC Survey |
