Non-payment of royalties:ED recording statement of Sony Music

Days after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted searches at the premises of various music companies here, the officials said they are recording the statement of the CEO of Sony Music.
"We are recording the statement of Sony Music CEO Shridhar Sunramanian," an ED official said today.
The searches were conducted last week in connection with the non-payment of royalties worth hundreds of crores to lyricists and song writers.
Till now the agency has recorded the statements of top honchos of T-Series and Universal.
In May this year, the agency had recorded the statement of lyricist Javed Akhtar in connection with a money laundering probe case involving an umbrella body of artistes.

Officials had said Akhtar is a complainant in the case and the agency is also questioning him for information and details of the matter.

The famous lyricist is the chairman of the board of directors of the the Indian Performing Right Society Limited (IPRSL), which is accused of not paying the dues of its member lyricists and song writers.
The ED had registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act against the IPRS and the Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) in March 2015 on the basis of criminal complaints and police FIRs alleging "gross irregularities" in its affairs.
The PPL is a copy right society for sound track recording companies and it also issues licences to the users of sound or music recordings for public performance on behalf of member music companies.

It exclusively holds public performance and radio broadcasting rights for over five lakh songs in the country.
The agency had last year attached assets worth Rs 13 crore of the PPL and mutual funds worth Rs 70.17 crore of the IPRS in this case.
During the course of the probe, the ED had earlier said it was found that the office-bearers of the IPRS had assigned their rights to issue user licences and collect royalties to the PPL on the basis of revenue sharing.
However, in connivance with the IPRS and M/S Select Media Holding Pvt Ltd (SMHPL), the PPL indulged in criminal conspiracy and cheating, and revenue due to the IPRS was not paid to them, it had said.

"Investigations reveal that Rs 13.04 crore was thus retained fraudulently by the PPL which led to non-payment of royalties to the members of the IPRS who are music writers, composers, directors among others.
"It was alleged that as the IPRS and the PPL are dominated by music companies, rights of literary work owners like lyricists and music composers are being undermined and the IPRS is not collecting and distributing their due royalties," the ED had said.
The IPRS collects royalties on public performances of songs and music from consumers like restaurants, radio stations, television channels among others and distributes royalties so collected among lyricists, composers (music directors) and publishers (music companies) in the ratio of 20:30:50 (up to June 21, 2012) and in the ratio of 25:25:50 thereafter.

The affairs of the IPRS are managed by a governing council comprising directors, some prominent names in the music industry, and representatives of popular music companies in the country.