Author
Ashish Sinha is an experienced business journalist who has covered FMCG, auto, infrastructure, tourism, telecom among several other beats. Ashish has keen interest in the regulatory scenario impacting different sectors. He writes on aviation, railways, post and telegraph, infrastructure, defence, media & entertainment, among a wide variety of other subjects.
All it took was an open letter and a few Tweets for American singer Taylor Swift to bring Apple Music to its knees. The company, which will soon be starting a new service AppleMusic, has decided to pay the artists during the three-month free trial period and even beyond. Can the same happen in India? We will come to that in just a bit. Apple Music launches on June 30. In the US, it is priced at $9.99 per month for one person or $14.99 for families. In India, though the pricing is not official, or whether Apple Music will be launched simultaneously on June 30, some reports suggest it will and it will be priced at Rs 120 per month for one person or Rs 180 per month for family or six users. Apple Music includes a radio station with personalized playlists and a choice from millions of songs on demand. The service includes a live radio station called Beats 1, tools to find curated playlists or individual songs, offline listening and a social music network on which users can comment on music and share it. In addition to iOS devices, the service will also be available on Macs and even on Android, later this year. Now let’s turn to India. There are over 230 FM stations, 800-plus television channels and crore of Internet buffs who access music online. While royalties are getting paid to the film’s producers or the music companies, are the singers getting their due? Let me ask you about ISRA or Indian Singers' Rights Association? I bet many of us don’t even know what it is. But some of us do. It is around two year old society of Indian singers, as the name suggests. According to its website, ISRA aims to administer and control the exploitation/ utilisation of singer performances and collects Royalties as per Section 38A of the Copyright Act, 1957 and then distribute the Royalties to its member singers. Ashish SinhaISRA has also listed an elaborate rate plan across mediums. For example: If a singer’s songs are used by a broadcaster of Music-based TV Show/Programme, the Royalty shall be Rs 25,000 per song performance (even if it is part of a song). Similar rate is applicable for a non-music based TV show or serial. And for Broadcast to the public of the performance of a singer on a Music Channel, the Royalty is pegged at Rs 5,000 per hour or 5 per cent of the gross revenue of the Channel for that TV, whichever is higher. Royalty is similarly fixed for mediums like radio, internet, hotels, commercial establishments, commercial vehicle, and Public events among others. So far so good. But privately, singers say that getting a broadcaster or a commercial establishment to pay the royalty on playing their songs is an extremely difficult proposition. In fact, only last month a delegation of singers including Sonu Nigam, Kavita Krishnamurthy and Pankaj Udhas, among others, had met Union information and broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley seeking his intervention. They wanted to ministry to direct certain broadcasters to "stop violations of the Performer's Right", in line with the provisions of the Copyright Act. As per the provisions, which have been introduced retrospectively, lyricists and singers should get 50 per cent royalty on any commercial use of their songs. In fact, according to Sanjay Tandon, the MD of ISRA, not even one TV channel or radio station is paying any royalty to any singer. As per the amended Copyright laws, royalty can be collected on original songs played commercially by any media, including ring tones by telephone companies, call waiting music, any songs used in any manner by any commercial establishment etc. And the law covers songs going back in time almost half a decade. So when Taylor Swift said the Apple Music plan was "unfair", arguing Apple had the money to cover the cost, the company obliged by announcing to the world it will pay for the trial period too. We wonder when that will be the case for our own singers? May be very soon! ashish.sinha@businessworld.in
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Japan's SoftBank Corp on Monday (22 June) announced investment of $20 billion in setting up solar power projects in India in partnership with telecom giant Bharti Enterprises and Taiwan's Foxconn. The joint venture entity will be called SBG Cleantech, which will be headquartered in Delhi and will focus on solar and wind energy. SBG Cleantech will have Manoj Kohli, a Bharti veteran, who until recently led Bharti’s emerging businesses, as executive Chairman and Raman Nanda, as the CEO. Softbank, the Japan-based telecommunications and Internet major, had previously committed to invest $10 billion in India over a ten year period. In a news conference, Softbank said that the three firms – Softbank, Bharti and Foxconn -- will set up 20 Giga Watts of renewable energy projects in India. SoftBank will hold majority stake in the joint venture, SBG Cleantech Ltd, while Bharti Enterprises Ltd and Foxconn Technology Group will have minority stakes. Its CEO Masayoshi Son said Foxconn will help with planned solar equipment manufacturing for the projects. The three firms are also looking at manufacturing equipment in India, he added. India has recently set a target of 100GW solar and 60GW wind target by 2022. Government of India’s mission is to achieve 24×7 power for all and the renewable energy target by 2022. India has achieved a base of 3.7 GW of solar power. The venture will invest in renewable energy plants across India. SBG Cleantech intends to participate in the 2015-16 round of solar power plant tenders under the National Solar Mission (NSM) program and state-specific solar programs. Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman of Bharti Enterprises said: “This project will immensely contribute to the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision of meeting the country’s energy demands through clean sources.” "At Bharti, we believe in projects that have a transformational impact on society. In line with this vision, we are participating in a renewable energy venture with SoftBank and Foxconn which has the potential to transform the Indian economy," Mittal, said. Son and Mittal will be visiting Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan over the next two days to talk to state government officials about potential projects, Mittal said at a news conference. He said that subject to winning project bids, land and other clearance, the first project should get off the ground in 12 to 18 month, adding that land acquisition should not be an issue since the venture will be using arid, non-cultivable and non-irrigable land. ashish.sinha@businessworld.in
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The study suggests that rainfall over Central India has been reducing over a period of last ten decades. However, Monsoon in the first fortnight of June is 11 per cent above normalA study on Monsoon published in the Nature Communications journal may just upset all the calculations done by the economist, market experts and trade analysts. The study, conducted by the Pune-based Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology says that the monsoon in India will be weaker compared to previous years. The reason: Indian Ocean is getting warmer. When this happens, the result is dampening of summer monsoon circulation which leads to reduction in rainfall over parts of India and other countries. The summer monsoon circulation means seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with the asymmetric heating of land and sea. When land gets warmer, the monsoon winds bring in the clouds and rains from sea. But if the reverse happens, the rainfall over land will get depleted. The study suggests that rainfall over Central India has been reducing over a period of last ten decades. However, Monsoon in the first fortnight of June is 11 per cent above normal. In the eventuality of lesser rainfall over Central India, there will be an adverse impact on agricultural produce. Farmers have already been hit hard by the unseasonal rainfall in the month of March and April. Deficient monsoon can result in a healthy business for the makers of pump sets, pipe and generators. It can also prolong the summer thereby generating higher sales for air conditioners, refrigerators and other white goods in urban India. For the farmer, the production of pulses will be worst hit on account of poor rainfall. But a good monsoon has a positive ripple effect on the sales volume of consumer goods, two-wheelers, tractors, agrochemicals, seed makers, pesticide firms among others. Market experts have been suggesting a buy status for the stocks of companies like ITC, Hindustan Unilever, Dabur India, Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto, Eicher Motors, M&M, Rashtriya Chemicals, Deepak Fertilisers, National Fertilisers amongst others. A Bank of America report suggests that the Reserve Bank of India may hold on to the rates this year. If at all it cuts the rate, it will be only in the early parts of next year. In case the monsoon is normal, then the RBI can cut the rates by 25 basis points in August and in line with the expectations of the finance minister. ashish.sinha@businessworld.in
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