New Delhi: Indian music label T-Series has finally joined the membership of The Indian Performing Right Society (IPRS), marking a watershed moment in the Indian music industry.
The latest deal is set to provide a game changing impetus to the IPRS, the registered Indian Copyright Society representing music composers, lyricists and owner publishers of music, who have been persistently making efforts to bring all major music companies onboard.
Super Cassettes Industries Ltd, popularly known as T-Series, will bring to IPRS a vast music library of more than 200,000 titles, including 50,000 plus music videos, comprising of more than 15,000 hours of music including musical compositions and lyrics forming part of songs/music videos spread across more than 15 Indian languages such as Hindi, Punjabi, Bhojpuri, Haryanvi, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Rajasthani, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Oriya, read a joint statement issued by the company on Friday.
Terming it as a homecoming for T-Series, IPRS chairman and renowned lyricist Javed Akhtar said, "This is a win-win proposition for T-Series and for our author and music composer members who will benefit tremendously. The entire music industry is united today in its determination that creators, music businesses all will work together for the common cause. I am joined by my fellow directors of IPRS in saying I also look forward to welcoming Bhushan Kumar on the Board of IPRS”.
T-Series’ presence as a member of IPRS will not only significantly enhance the music publishing ecosystem in India, but improve the ease of doing business for numerous music licensees including broadcasters, digital services, telcos and various other small businesses.
T-Series chairman & MD Bhushan Kumar said it was a logical progression for the company. "Copyright is in the heart and soul of what T-Series creates. Today the entire industry, creators, music businesses, all united, represent a seamless coalition of stakeholders contributing to our country’s progress and working together in our common interest.”
Over the years, IPRS has been roping in music publishers, lyricists, and composers as members. Other industry majors including Saregama, Universal Music, Sony Music, and Times Music are already a part of it.
Universal Music Group, managing director and CEO (India and South Asia), Devraj Sanyal, Managing Director & CEO said it was important for all the major players to band together to push the agenda of fairness, transparency, equitable remunerations for both owner publishers and author composers. "I’m sure we will now see a golden age dawn for creators and copyright owners," said Sanyal.
In 2019, IPRS was credited by the CISAC as being the fastest growing copyright society in the world. The deal between IPRS and T-Series is momentous because licensing music can now have a single-window clearance process, wherein those seeking rights to use music in a recording or a video or a commercial need to look no further than the IPRS.
