21st March, 2026
15th September, 2025A state of confusion still persists among consumers/users, composers, lyricists, singers/performers, and musicians, among others, about what is a collection – or copyright – society, and what do they really do?
In most countries, including India, collection societies operate within a legal framework that grants them certain rights and responsibilities, including the ability to collect and distribute royalties. Collection societies act as intermediaries, licensing and enforcing copyright on behalf of their members in situations where it would be impractical for individual copyright holders to do so.
Here's a more detailed explanation on their key role –
To provide a guide to the various bodies that exist in India, monitoring rights underthe Copyright Act, 1957 that protect original literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, as well as cinematograph films and sound recordings, from unauthorized uses, www.musicunplugged.in provides a listing of collecting societies to provide a better perspective on what each of them do:
Indian Performing Right Society Limited (IPRS) – iprs.org
In brief, IPRS legitimizes the usage of copyrighted music by users by issuing them licences and collecting royalties from them, for and on behalf of IPRS members i.e. Authors, Composers, and Publishers. The royalties collected are distributed among members after deducting IPRS’s administrative costs.
In an Indian context, Composers are also known as Music Directors, andAuthors are also known as Lyricists, whereas Authors and Composers are often referred to as Writers, which can mean either or both.
The Chairman of the Governing Council is Javed Akhtar, who is an Author Member, with IPRS having its registered/corporate office at Mumbai with branch offices at New Delhi, Chennai, and Kolkata.
For more information, please write to: licencing@iprs.org
Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) – pplindia.org
Founded in 1941, Phonographic Performance Limited, also known as PPL or PPL India, is a performance rights organization, licensing its members’ sound recordings for communication to the public in the areas of public performance and broadcast. PPL owns and/or controls the public performance rights of 400+ music labels such as Lahari Music, Sony Music Entertainment, Speed Records, T-Series, Universal Music, and Warner Music, with a catalogue of over 7.9 million international and domestic sound recordings.
Under the Copyright Act, 1957 every business entity or individual must seek permission from the copyright owners of the sound recording before any public performance occurs, and pay the copyright holders for the music consumed. PPL is a non-profit organization and the royalties collected are provided to the rightful owners of the music i.e. its members. PPL collects royalty by issuing licenses to commercial establishments/premises/venues such as hotels, discotheques, clubs, lounges, bars, pubs, shops, stores, malls, salons, hospitals, offices, amusement parks, buses, taxis, aircraft, events, shows, etc., for on-ground public performance i.e. communication of sound recordings of its members to the public.
Radio Broadcast licenses are also issued by PPL for the usage of members repertoire on their terrestrial radio stations, community radio stations, and national public radio stations.
For more information, please write to: corp@pplindia.org
Recorded Music Performance Limited (RMPL) – rmplindia.org
The Recorded Music Performance Ltd. (RMPL) is authorised and exclusively controls public performance rights and radio broadcasting rights (of sound recordings), including both non-film and film songs, of its members, all of whom are music labels.
All licences granted and issued by RMPL are conditional, non-exclusive, and for a limited period and purpose.There is no transfer of effective title, control, custody, possession, or “right to use” of copyrights, which vests solely with the owner(s).
For more information, write to: corporate@rmplindia.org
Novex Communications Private Limited(NCPL) – novex.in
Novex is a public performance rights, copyright, and anti-piracy entity, providing public performance rights of sound recordingsfor commercial purposes, such as public performances in hotels, restaurants, lawns, discotheques, resorts, malls, marriage halls, and other venues.
Novex provides effective tools to efficiently control copyright distribution and ensure that only authorized licensees utilize member content, preserving theircopyright and securing the financial interests of its members, namely, Zee Entertainment Enterprises, Yash Raj Films, TIPS Industries, Think Music (SPI Music), Red Ribbon Entertainment, Velvet Vibes (Dimensions Communications), DRecords International (Daler Mehndi), Sai Productions (Gurdas Maan), MS Music And Sound (Mika Singh), and Kalamkaar Music.
For more information, write to: contact@novex.in
Phonographic Digital Limited (PDL) – pdlindia.org
Phonographic Digital Limited (PDL) boasts itself as the first of its kind global digital music collection company, supported by more than 1,000+ music labels, and 15,000+ sub-labels. PDL is mainly engaged in licensing of copyrighted sound recordings and audio-visuals to mobiles and on digital modes and mediums.
PDL has signed licenses with major telecom operators such as Airtel, and VodafoneIdea, andmusic streaming platforms like JioSaavn, Spotify, and Amazon.
For more information, write to:info@pdlindia.org
Indian Singers’ And Musicians’ Rights Association (ISAMRA) – isracopyright.com
The Copyright Act, 1957 was amended in 2012 and came into effect from 21st June 2012. The amendment was historic in a manner in which "Performers" were protected, and their interests were in line with international laws.
The creativity of singers and musicians in the recording of a song was finally recognized;theyare now entitledto receiveroyalties from the exploitation of their performance(s).
While the performers' rights subsist for 50 years from the date of their performance, they are entitled to receive royalties for all commercial usage,other than for communication to the public of the performance if combined in a film shown in a cinema hall (theatre).
Further, while the performer can assign their copyright, they cannot assign or waive the right to receive royalties.Hence, the performer can only assign the right to receive royalties either to a legal heir or to a Copyright Society. Any agreement to the contrary is considered as void.
Thus, following the amendment, singers such as Lata Mangeshkar, Usha Mangeshkar, Suresh Wadkar, Gurdas Maan, Pankaj Udhas, Alka Yagnik, Kumar Sanu, Abhijeet Bhattacharya and Sonu Nigam, along with support from Asha Bhosle, Shaan, Kunal Ganjawala, Sunidhi Chauhan and Mahalaxmi Iyer, among others, formed the Indian Singers' and Musicians' Rights Association (ISAMRA), formerly known as the Indian Singers’ Rights Association (ISRA), which was floated on 3rd May, 2013.ISAMRA had, upto 31st March, 2021 distributed Rs.6 Crores to its members.
Hence, any user who plays/exploits/utilizes the songs sung by members of ISAMRA and its affiliate society members is now statutorily required to obtain a clearance from ISAMRA by paying the requisite royalty amounts as per prescribed tariffs.
For more information, please write to: info@isamracopyright.com
Music Composers Association Of India (MCAI) – mcai.in
Although not a copyright collection society, Music Composers Association of India is a pan India organisation committed to safeguarding the interests of composers.
The MCAI, formerly known as the Cine Music Directors Association (CMDA), was established on June 21st, 1958.
With the change of name from the CMDA to the MCAI, the ambit and scope of the association has expanded to include a range of new responsibilities and duties towards the music composers’ fraternity of India. Hence, from merely being an organization representing only the film music composers, the MCAI now also consists of composers from thetelevision, advertising and the non-film music industries.
For more information, please write to: mcaimusic@gmail.com
Cinefil Producers Performance Limited (Cinefil) –cinefilindia.com
CINEFIL PRODUCERS PERFORMANCE LIMITED (CINEFIL) is a Copyright Society registered by the Central Government under Section 33(3) of the Copyright Act, 1957 for Cinematograph Film works.
Formed largely by film producers with the object of collecting royalties from India and globally by issuing and granting Cinematographic Performance Licenses (CPL) as per published tariff rates.
For more information, please write to: admin@cinefilindia.com
By Parag Kamani
Parag Kamani has been part of the media and entertainment industry across 35 years, having worked for licensors such as Warner Music and EMI/Virgin in music, as well as Warner Bros, Universal Pictures, and Paramount Pictures in the field of films. Parag continues pursuing his passion as a profession.
