Dear Venu, Thanks for going through the letter in detail!
The way we see it, copyright rules seek a very broad blanket prohibition on usage of film music. So even if community radio stations want to use, lets say, 15 seconds of film music, for a satire on some other topic, say, MNREGA or something else, then they could be vulnerable to claims of infringement. We are trying to avoid this situation. Secondly, we are also of the opinion that film music per se cannot be judged in terms of value. It is already a part of our cultural landscape which cannot be avoided. We must explore how we can use it creatively. Instead, we must judge community radio stations by their intent and purpose. I give a few hypothetical scenarios: 1) A community radio station wants to make a program about how film music and folk music have copied each other and gained from each other. In this program, they want to play some film songs to illustrate their points 2) A community radio station wants to pay tribute to an important cultural icon such as Lata Mangeshkar or Mohammad Rafi, and wants to play a few songs of theirs as part of the program 3) A community radio plays film music which forms 50% of its programmes. There is very little community participation, and entertainment which brings them ad revenue, is the main focus of the station Currently, in all three cases, each CR station will be guilty of infringement. In our opinion, as far as the issue of *copyright* is concerned, none of them should be be vulnerable for infringement. However, in our opinion, in the 3rd case, that CR station should be censured by MoIB and/or CRF, CRAI etc, for not fulfilling the mandate of CR, and instead violating the terms and conditions of the GOPA - which is under the domain of MoIB. The GOPA mentions non-profit and developmental usage of CR. The real question which I think you are asking is about the intention of many of our broadcasters. If they are allowed film music, will they do most of their programming on entertainment rather than other kinds of programming? Will they use CR to gain revenue from ads instead of fulfilling their mandate? This is a question for our broadcasters to introspect. In terms of the copyright rules, we should always seek a broader framework which is enabling, and then encourage our peers to use the permission sensitively and for the benefit of communities. It would be a pity if the framework itself is narrow and restrictive and then even those stations which want to use popular culture creatively, will be stopped from doing anything with film music. Of course, a formal letter to the Registrar of Copyright will not allow us to foray into all these arguments. This is why we have simply got to the end point of the argument and asked that CR stations be allowed permission to broadcast film music. If they misuse, then I do believe we as CRF and/or MoIB should look into the matter, not the MHRD. Look forward to your thoughts, best, Ram On Fri, Sep 21, 2012 at 3:47 PM, Venu Arora <[email protected]>wrote: > Dear Ram B: > I am quoting a paragraph from your letter here and I am a little confused. > Is CRF supporting that CR stations use film music as part of their content? > > 'While most CR stations are run with content created by the local > community, in some cases it would also be desirable to have other kinds of > programming including film songs played on some stations to attract new > listeners. These programs can also be used in the context of educational > and public interest programs but it would be impossible for CR stations to > afford the same statutory fees as a commercial FM station" > > There are several things going for creating a distinction between > commercial and community radio stations within the copyright law and the > notion of fair use should definitely be incorporated such that CR stations > are given the right to use copy righted materials for educational purposes. > However I have my reservations on how this has been stated above with > specific reference to film music. > > Those are my two bits. > warmest, > Venu > > > Venu Arora > Director of Projects > Ideosync Media Combine > 177, Ashoka Enclave III, Sector 35, Faridabad - 121003 > Haryana - INDIA > Tel: +91-129-4064883/4131883/6510156 > Mobile: +91-9810731552 > Web: www.ideosyncmedia.org > > > > > On 21-Sep-2012, at 2:36 PM, ram bhat wrote: > > Dear All, > > As you all know, the Copyright Act was amended in 2012, > with very significant amendments. Of course, as broadcasters, > the Act has implications for community broadcasters as well. > > The full text of the 1975 Act is available at : > http://mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/CprAct.pdf > The full text of the Amendment is available at: > http://mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/CRACT_AMNDMNT_2012.pdf > Now there are a set of proposed Draft Copyright Rules as well - available > at http://copyright.gov.in/Documents/CRRULES_2012.pdf > > During our recent workshop in Delhi, Lawrence Liang from ALF > pointed out the need for the CR movement to push for changes in the draft > Rules > so that we working on CR are not affected adversely. > > Accordingly, my colleague at Maraa, Monica James, with inputs from > Lawrence > has prepared a note pushing for certain recommendations and comments > on the draft Copyright Rules 2012. > > The deadline for comments from the public is today, September 21, 2012. > We have already sent this note to the Registrar of Copyright, on behalf of > CRF. > > The full text of the CRF letter is available on our website - > http://maraa.in/comments-on-draft-copyright-rules-2012/ > > best, > Ram > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "CRF India" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/crf-india?hl=en. > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "CRF India" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/crf-india?hl=en. >
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