IP in a song: Poplaw and theatre
SPICY IP:
(Warning: Long post)
Earlier this week, I was at Kamani Auditorium in New Delhi, which was packed to full capacity and then some, watching a play called ‘Stories in a Song’. The play itself was a montage of stories which told of how different forms of music of the north Indian tradition had evolved in response to their ages. The music for the play was selected from traditional repertoire and set by Shubha Mudgal and Aneesh Pradhan (they are the brains behind this awesome pro-musicians website which you must check out). (Image from here)
Earlier this week, I was at Kamani Auditorium in New Delhi, which was packed to full capacity and then some, watching a play called ‘Stories in a Song’. The play itself was a montage of stories which told of how different forms of music of the north Indian tradition had evolved in response to their ages. The music for the play was selected from traditional repertoire and set by Shubha Mudgal and Aneesh Pradhan (they are the brains behind this awesome pro-musicians website which you must check out). (Image from here)
About half-way through the performance, a guru’s composition of a khayal in raga Malkauns was brutally transfigured into a remixed track by a wily Bollywood/film music “composer”. With the press of a button on the synthesizer, the stage transformed from being a space for musical contemplation to a dance floor filled with teenyboppers banging their heads all over the place. (Watch this clip, from 5.08 to 6.40, for a glimpse into this story.)
The composer rhetorically asks, “what is a song worth anyway? No one has a copyright over the seven swaras“; while the guru’s disciple plaintively pleads that “artists must get their due”. Words like copyright and royalty were freely bandied about. I’m not sure the audience paid much attention, because they were too preoccupied in their cheering, hooting and whistling. The scene quickly descended into propaganda for the royalties debate that has captured the imagination of the Indian copyright world for these past several months.
There’s a context to the story — Shubha Mudgal (see posts about her on the blog here) has been part of the group of artists, singers, composers, who have led the debate to grant stronger protection to performers’ rights in India. …
The composer rhetorically asks, “what is a song worth anyway? No one has a copyright over the seven swaras“; while the guru’s disciple plaintively pleads that “artists must get their due”. Words like copyright and royalty were freely bandied about. I’m not sure the audience paid much attention, because they were too preoccupied in their cheering, hooting and whistling. The scene quickly descended into propaganda for the royalties debate that has captured the imagination of the Indian copyright world for these past several months.
There’s a context to the story — Shubha Mudgal (see posts about her on the blog here) has been part of the group of artists, singers, composers, who have led the debate to grant stronger protection to performers’ rights in India. …
