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
