| Singers and some music firms want remixes banned. Do they have a case?
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| What’s common among Bally Sagoo’s ‘Mera Laung Gawacha,’ Nazia Hassan’s ‘Laila O Laila,’ ‘Dum Maro Dum,’ ‘Jhumka Gira Re,’ ‘Kaanta Laga,’ ‘Kaliyon Ka Chaman,’ and ‘Chadti Jawani?’
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| The answer, of course, is that all are old Hindi film hits that have been tarted up and turned into 21st century hits – or remixes, as they’re called in the music industry.
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| At a time when new pop and film music albums are flopping, the remix business is booming. Reliable figures are unavailable but industry guesstimates place the remix business’ turnover in the vicinity of Rs 300 crore – almost a fourth of the music industry’s Rs 1,200 crore turnover.
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| “It’s an emerging trend but remix albums are clearly here to stay for some time,” says Mukesh Desai, CEO, T-Series. “Today’s youth are demanding this kind of music and we are giving them that. Remixing of songs happens all over the world,” he points out.
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| Adds another industry expert: “Certainly, remixes have caught on in an industry that has been battered by the failure of the Hindi movie industry to produce a hit. Most of these albums have been selling well.”
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| To be sure, not everyone agrees that the remix business is booming. Explains Saregama India managing director Abhik Mitra: “While there is a perception that remixes are doing phenomenal business, the truth is that only ‘Kaanta Laga’ has sold large volumes in the last six months. Others like ‘Kaliyon Ka Chaman’, ‘O Meri Soni’, ‘Neele Neele Ambar Par’ have done fairly well but have not sold quantities that match those of Hindi film soundtracks.”
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| Even so, the word from the market is a trifle different. “ We have been in the music industry for the past 22 years. Today people prefer listening to remixes. We get the hip teenager and 50-something men and women buying remixes,” says a music shop owner at Chembur, the Mumbai suburb.
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| Faced with tumbling music sales, eroding profits, even losses (Rs 1,800 crore in the last three years for the industry as a whole) and piracy, some music companies have clambered on the remix bandwagon. It’s easy to see why.
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| Explains Mitra: “At one point of time a lot of companies were releasing a lot of new artistes on the pop scene. That number has now been reduced in favour of remixes. The reason for this is the belief that remixes are a relatively lower risk than trying to introduce new artistes.”
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| He says that music companies believe that time-tested melodies and lyrics packaged in today’s music go down well with the public.
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| “The company does not have to spend time, effort and money in building an artiste and establishing a completely new song,” he adds.
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| It’s mostly the music industry’s small fry (some 300 of them dispersed all over India) that have leaped into the remix business – the bigger boys (companies such as Universal, Sony and Times Music) have a presence too, but it’s minuscule, though remixes account for some 10 per cent of T-Series’ undisclosed turnover, which the industry thinks is about Rs 500 crore.
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| Yet the gravy ride may be drawing to a close, if the Indian Performing Rights Society (IPRS) and Indian Music Industry (IMI) have their way.
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| IPRS represents the interests of singers, composers and music directors, while IMI is the apex body for music companies, primarily the big boys of the industry.
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| Last week, both said that a joint delegation would try and meet prime minister Atal B.Vajpayee and seek a ban on remixes and cover versions. People are misusing the Copyright Act, they alleged.
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| They contend that remixes are done illegally and that the original composers and artistes are never given credit or royalty for their work.
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| “We are protesting on two accounts. One, to take up the issue that the original creators of the music are not getting their due. Two, they are not being given credit for the original composition,” grouses Sanjay Tandon, director general of IPRS.
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| Tandon also adds that romantic songs are turned into sleazy songs. At this rate there will be no creativity left, says he.
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| Khayyam, the well known music composer and director, too weighs in against remixes. “I am the most affected. Most of my songs have been remixed and I have not been given due credit for them or any royalty. People are remixing songs left, right and centre without the slightest consideration about what went into their creation. If the practice of remixes continues, we will lose our musical heritage.”
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| If singers are up in arms, it’s understandable. But why are the big music companies opposed to remixes? IMI president V J Lazarus says: “ The music industry is not against remixes but against the misuse of the Copyright Act.”
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| Both IMI and IPRS say that people have been exploiting loopholes in section 52 (I) of the Copyright Act which allows anyone to reproduce the original literary or musical work two years after its release by paying the owner a minimum royalty of five per cent of sales.
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| “People have been misusing this clause by not seeking the permission of the original owners or publishers,” says Savio D’Souza, secretary general, IMI.
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| IPRS wants Section 52 (1) (j) of the Copyright Act deleted. The section reduced the 60-year protection of original works to two years. Tandon says: “ We are asking for the abolition of the section with necessary safeguards for the original artists and composers.”
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| He says that the industry is losing Rs 125 crore every year to this form of “legitimate piracy.”
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| Executives at the big music companies also suggest that remixes are primarily the turf of fly-by-night companies. Says Mitra: “A lot of these companies that inform us of remix recordings have untraceable contact details.”
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| But others argue that remixes have their own value. “Remixes are not about robbing old songs. They involve a lot of creativity, because you have to recreate the music to a new synergy. There is a whole set of DJs who work on remix music. It’s serious business. Most discs now play remix music and an occasional English song to break the monotony. Earlier, it used to be the other way around,” says one source.
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| Another industry source adds: “Remixes are a way of ensuring that timeless great music doesn’t get lost.”
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| In any case, record companies abroad also follow similar practices. “Version recording is a standard practice in the West. In the US, there is compulsory licensing. So long as you provide information and pay royalties, it is legal – that’s the long and short of it,” says the source.
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| The rub could lie here. Desai of T Series and Ashish Chakravorty, senior vice president at Zee Records, say that they do pay the mandatory five per cent of the minimum retail price as royalty to the music companies whose catalogue they exploit.
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| Chakravorty also says that Zee Records also gives credit to the original artists and creators of music. But industry sources claim that the music companies that own the copyrights don’t always pay the original creators and artistes.
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| Nor are they willing to accept royalty of five per cent. They ask music companies that want to launch remixes for 15 per cent royalty.
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| No doubt Vajpayee will bear this in mind too, when confronted with the industry delegation.
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| Remixes defined
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| What exactly is a remix? It's a souped up song – take a usually staid original golden oldie, throw in some hot beats, add a young singer and, voila, you get a remix.
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| Remixing is distinctly different from digitally remastering original recordings or even reperforming and remaking songs (version recordings).
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| Some 20 years ago, Super Cassettes (T-Series) used to get popular songs re-performed by artists like Kumar Sanu, Abhijit and Sonu Nigam with the disc or cassette cover prominently mentioning “With Jhankar Beats.”
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| But this essentially involved version recording, not remixing as the term is now understood.
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| Aficionados swear that remixing leads to music with a different feel – a blend of drum beats, fusion, classical and rap. |
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