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- Section 31D Copyright Act 1957 statutory licence broadcasting
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- IPRS PPL India broadcasting licence music
- broadcasting rights copyright India
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Broadcasting and Performing Rights Under Indian Copyright Law: The Complete Guide
When a radio station plays a Hindi film song during the morning rush hour, it is simultaneously using at least two separate copyright interests — the musical composition (melody and lyrics), and the sound recording (the actual recorded performance). Each belongs to a different rights holder. Each requires a separate licence. And a broadcaster that pays only one of these rights holders while ignoring the other is still infringing Indian copyright law.
This is the practical reality of broadcasting and performing rights in India — an area governed by the Copyright Act, 1957, as significantly amended by the Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012. Understanding which rights exist, who owns them, how they are licensed, and what remedies are available when they are violated is essential for musicians, content creators, event organisers, broadcasters, online streaming platforms, and anyone who commercially uses creative works in public.
The statutory framework: Broadcasting and performing rights in India are governed primarily by Sections 2(dd), 2(ff), 14, 31D, 37, 38, 38A, and 39 of the Copyright Act, 1957. The Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012 significantly strengthened performers’ rights and introduced the statutory licensing regime for broadcasting. The governing copyright societies are IPRS (Indian Performing Rights Society) for musical compositions and PPL India (Phonographic Performance Limited) for sound recordings.
What Do “Broadcasting” and “Communication to the Public” Mean Under Indian Law?
How does the Copyright Act define “broadcast”?
Precise definitions matter enormously in copyright law. The Copyright Act, 1957 provides two key definitions that underpin the entire broadcasting rights framework.
Section 2(dd) defines “broadcast” as “communication to the public by any means of wireless diffusion, whether in sound or visual images or both, or by wire, and includes a rebroadcast.” This definition is deliberately technology-neutral — it covers radio, television, satellite transmission, and cable simultaneously. Importantly, it also includes rebroadcasting, meaning that a party who retransmits another broadcaster’s transmission is also engaged in broadcasting and requires its own authorisation.
Section 2(ff) defines “communicate to the public” as making any work available for being seen or heard or otherwise enjoyed by the public directly, or by any means of display or diffusion — whether simultaneously or at places and times chosen individually. This definition expressly includes any communication through satellite, cable, or any other means of simultaneous communication to more than one household or a place of residence.
Together, these two definitions establish that broadcasting — whether on terrestrial radio, satellite television, cable, or online streaming — constitutes communication to the public, and therefore engages the exclusive rights of copyright owners under Section 14 of the Act.
Key Takeaway: Every transmission of a creative work to the public — whether on FM radio, a TV channel, or a streaming platform — constitutes “broadcasting” or “communication to the public” under the Copyright Act, and requires the copyright owner’s authorisation unless a specific exception or statutory licence applies.
The Exclusive Rights: What Copyright Owners Can Authorise or Refuse
What specific broadcasting rights does a copyright owner hold?
Section 14 of the Copyright Act, 1957 sets out the exclusive rights of copyright owners. For the purposes of broadcasting, the most relevant are:
Section 14(a)(iii): The owner of copyright in a literary, dramatic, or musical work has the exclusive right to “communicate the work to the public.” This covers radio broadcasts of songs (the underlying musical composition and lyrics) and television broadcasts of dramatic works.
Section 14(e)(iii): The owner of copyright in a sound recording has the exclusive right to “communicate the sound recording to the public.” This is a separate and independent right from the musical composition right under Section 14(a). A record label that owns the sound recording copyright can therefore prevent or licence the broadcast of a song even after the composer has separately licenced the musical composition.
Section 14(d)(iii): The owner of copyright in a cinematograph film has the exclusive right to “communicate the film to the public.” This right is typically held by the film producer.
These three separate exclusive rights — in the musical composition, the sound recording, and the film — explain why broadcasters require multiple licences before they can legally transmit any commercially produced content. Obtaining one licence does not satisfy the others.
Key Takeaway: Broadcast licences must be obtained from every separate rights holder. A broadcaster who licences the musical composition from IPRS but not the sound recording from PPL India still infringes Section 14(e)(iii).
Section 31D: The Statutory Licence for Broadcasting
What is the Section 31D statutory licence and how does it work?
Section 31D of the Copyright Act, 1957, introduced by the Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012, is the most commercially significant provision for broadcasters operating in India. It creates a statutory licensing regime that allows radio and television broadcasters to broadcast literary and musical works and sound recordings without negotiating individual permissions from every rights holder — by paying royalties at rates determined by appropriate authorities and following a prescribed notice procedure.
Before the 2012 amendment, broadcasters had to negotiate with every individual rights holder or copyright society to obtain permission, which was commercially complex and often led to disputes. Section 31D resolved this by creating a compulsory licensing mechanism as a matter of public interest, ensuring that broadcasters could operate while creators still received fair compensation.
How the Section 31D process works:
- Notice of intention: A broadcaster wishing to use the statutory licence must give prior notice to the owner of the copyright — whether directly or through the applicable copyright society — of its intention to broadcast the work.
- Royalty payment: The broadcaster pays royalties at the rates prescribed. After the dissolution of the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) in 2021, jurisdiction over royalty rate determination shifted to the respective High Courts. Rate disputes between broadcasters and copyright societies are now adjudicated by the Commercial Division of the relevant High Court.
- Statement of accounts: The broadcaster must maintain and provide statements of accounts to the copyright society, recording the works broadcast and the corresponding royalty calculations.
Critical limitation: Section 31D applies specifically to radio and television broadcasters. The provision has been a subject of active legal dispute regarding whether it covers internet streaming platforms. Courts have taken varying positions on this question. Until a definitive legislative or judicial resolution emerges, online streaming platforms operate in a legally uncertain space on Section 31D applicability and typically negotiate direct licensing agreements with rights holders and copyright societies.
Practitioner’s Note — Section 31D and Streaming Platforms: The question of whether Section 31D extends to internet broadcasters remains unsettled under Indian law. The Copyright (Amendment) Rules were amended in 2013 to prescribe the procedure for Section 31D, but the scope of “broadcasting organisation” in the digital context has not been conclusively resolved. Streaming platforms should therefore obtain direct licences from IPRS and PPL India rather than relying on Section 31D as a statutory shield.
Key Takeaway: Section 31D gives radio and television broadcasters a statutory route to broadcast musical works and sound recordings without individual negotiations — but this requires following a precise notice and royalty payment procedure. Ignoring the procedure invalidates the statutory licence protection.
Section 37: The Independent Rights of Broadcasting Organisations
Do broadcasters have their own copyright-like rights separate from the content they broadcast?
This is one of the least understood aspects of Indian copyright law. Section 37 of the Copyright Act gives broadcasting organisations a set of independent statutory rights in their own broadcasts — entirely separate from any copyright in the underlying content being broadcast.
Under Section 37, a broadcasting organisation has the exclusive right to:
- Rebroadcast the broadcast
- Cause the broadcast to be heard or seen by the public on payment of any charges
- Make any sound recording or visual recording of the broadcast
- Sell or hire any such recording
- Broadcast any such recording
These rights subsist for 25 years from the beginning of the calendar year next following the year in which the broadcast is made.
The practical significance is considerable. When a television network broadcasts a live cricket match, the network acquires a Section 37 right in that broadcast independently of any copyright in the match, the commentary, or the musical elements included. Another broadcaster who simultaneously retransmits that broadcast without the network’s permission infringes the Section 37 right — even if they have separately licensed all the underlying content.
Similarly, a person who records a live television broadcast and redistributes it — whether physically or online — infringes the broadcasting organisation’s Section 37 rights, regardless of any separate copyright issues in the content itself.
Section 39 — Permitted Acts: Not all uses of broadcasts infringe Section 37 rights. Section 39 of the Copyright Act permits certain acts that do not constitute infringement of broadcasting organisations’ rights or performers’ rights. These include: making a private recording solely for personal use; making a recording for the purposes of bona fide teaching or research; and any fair dealing with the broadcast for the purposes of reporting current events. These exceptions mirror the fair dealing framework under Section 52 for copyright works generally.
Key Takeaway: Every broadcasting organisation holds an independent statutory right in its own broadcasts under Section 37, lasting 25 years. Retransmitting or recording a broadcast without the broadcasting organisation’s permission infringes this right even if all underlying content licences are in order.
Performers’ Rights: Section 38 and Section 38A
What rights do actors, musicians, and performers hold in their performances?
The Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012 significantly expanded performers’ rights in India, aligning Indian law more closely with the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT). Performers’ rights now have two distinct components under the Copyright Act.
Section 38 — Economic rights of performers:
A “performer” — defined in Section 2(qq) to include an actor, musician, dancer, acrobat, juggler, snake charmer, a person delivering a lecture, or any other person who makes a performance — has the exclusive right to do or authorise any of the following in respect of their performance:
- Make a sound recording or visual recording of the performance
- Reproduce the performance in any material form including sound or visual recording
- Broadcast the performance (where it is not already a broadcast)
- Communicate the performance to the public otherwise than by broadcast
These performer economic rights subsist for 25 years from the beginning of the calendar year next following the year in which the performance was made.
Section 38A — Moral rights of performers:
Independent of economic rights and even after any assignment, performers retain:
- The right to claim to be identified as the performer of their performance
- The right to restrain or claim damages for any distortion, mutilation, modification, or other alteration of their performance that would be prejudicial to their reputation
Performers’ moral rights under Section 38A cannot be assigned or waived. They survive in perpetuity, outlasting the 25-year economic rights term.
The 2012 amendment — royalty rights for performers:
One of the most commercially significant changes introduced by the 2012 amendment was the insertion of a proviso to Section 38 that grants performers and authors of literary and musical works the right to receive royalties for commercial exploitation of their work — specifically when a sound recording made from their performance is used for broadcasting, streaming, or other commercial exploitation. This right cannot be waived or assigned to any person other than a legal heir or a copyright society.
This means that even where a performer has assigned all rights to a film producer or record label, the performer retains an inalienable right to receive a share of royalties when the sound recording is commercially exploited. This right is administered through copyright societies — primarily IPRS for musical performers and lyricists.
Key Takeaway: Performers hold 25-year economic rights and permanent moral rights in their performances under Sections 38 and 38A. The 2012 amendment added an inalienable royalty right that survives even a complete assignment — making it unlawful for producers or labels to contract away a performer’s royalty share in perpetuity.
IPRS and PPL India: The Two Licences Every Broadcaster Needs
Which copyright societies manage broadcasting licences in India?
Two principal copyright societies manage the broadcasting licensing ecosystem in India:
IPRS — Indian Performing Rights Society: IPRS represents composers, lyricists, and music publishers. It licences the public performance and broadcasting rights in musical compositions and literary works (lyrics). A radio station, television channel, or venue that plays or performs music in public must obtain an IPRS licence for the underlying musical compositions.
PPL India — Phonographic Performance Limited: PPL India represents record labels and music companies. It licences the public performance and broadcasting rights in sound recordings — the actual recorded versions of songs — under Section 14(e). A broadcaster who pays IPRS but not PPL India has licenced only the musical composition; the sound recording remains unlicensed.
The practical consequence: A radio station that broadcasts a Bollywood song must hold both an IPRS licence (for the musical composition written by the composer and lyrics written by the lyricist) and a PPL India licence (for the sound recording owned by the music label). If either licence is absent, the broadcast infringes the respective rights holder’s Section 14 exclusive rights.
This dual-licence requirement is confirmed by IPRS v. Eastern India Motion Picture Association (1977) 4 SCC 443, where the Supreme Court held that the rights of music composers and lyricists are distinct from the rights of film producers and cannot be absorbed by the film copyright alone. The case established the foundational principle that separate licensing streams exist for separate copyright interests in the same musical content.
Additionally, Phonographic Performance Ltd. v. NDTV Ltd. (Delhi High Court) affirmed that a television broadcaster’s failure to obtain a PPL licence for sound recordings constitutes infringement of the sound recording copyright under Section 14(e), regardless of any other licences held.
Key Takeaway: Every broadcaster, event organiser, and streaming platform must maintain two separate current licences — IPRS for musical compositions and PPL India for sound recordings. A single combined licence does not exist; each society manages a distinct copyright interest.
Enforcement: What Happens When Broadcasting or Performing Rights Are Violated?
What remedies does the Copyright Act provide for unauthorised broadcasting?
Civil remedies under Section 55:
The copyright owner or performer whose rights are infringed may approach the civil court for:
- Injunction — including urgent ex-parte (without notice) interim injunctions to stop infringing broadcasts immediately
- Damages or account of profits — the infringer must pay either the loss suffered by the rights holder or the profit they earned through infringement
- Delivery up of infringing copies and equipment used for infringement
Courts have increasingly granted John Doe orders (also called Ashok Kumar orders) against unknown ISPs and streaming platforms, directing them to block access to infringing broadcasts before the platforms can even be identified. These are powerful tools for broadcasters and performers facing widespread online infringement.
Criminal penalties under Section 63:
Intentional infringement of broadcasting or performing rights is a criminal offence under Section 63. Penalties include imprisonment for not less than six months and up to three years, with fines between ₹50,000 and ₹2,00,000 for a first conviction — and enhanced penalties for subsequent offences.
Practical enforcement steps for rights holders:
- Document the infringement thoroughly — record the infringing broadcast, note date, time, platform, and duration
- Issue a cease-and-desist notice through a qualified advocate
- Report to the applicable copyright society (IPRS or PPL India) for enforcement assistance
- File a complaint with the Copyright Office if formal investigation is sought
- Approach the civil court for injunctive relief if the infringement is ongoing and causing material harm
For event organisers and venue owners: Running a venue where live music is performed or recorded music is played without IPRS and PPL India licences constitutes public performance infringement. Both societies actively audit venues and initiate enforcement proceedings against unlicensed hotels, restaurants, clubs, shopping malls, gyms, and event spaces. Obtaining the relevant licences before any event is not optional.
Key Takeaway: Rights holders whose broadcasting or performing rights are violated have access to both civil remedies (injunctions, damages) and criminal prosecution under Sections 55 and 63 of the Copyright Act. Acting quickly with documented evidence and legal assistance significantly improves enforcement outcomes.
Who Needs to Read This — A Practical Summary
If you are a musician or composer: Register with IPRS. Your musical compositions and lyrics generate royalties every time they are broadcast, streamed, or publicly performed. Without IPRS membership, those royalties are uncollected. Register your performances with a performing rights organisation to ensure your Section 38 economic rights are tracked and compensated.
If you are a record label or music producer: Register with PPL India to licence your sound recording catalogue for broadcast and public performance. Ensure your artist contracts reflect the 2012 amendment’s inalienable royalty provisions — attempting to assign away a performer’s entire royalty interest by contract is now unenforceable under Section 38’s proviso.
If you are a broadcaster or streaming platform: Maintain current IPRS and PPL India licences. If you are a radio or television broadcaster, comply with the Section 31D procedure for statutory licensing — including the prescribed notice, royalty payment, and statement of accounts. If you are an online streaming platform, obtain direct licences given the unsettled state of Section 31D’s applicability to internet broadcasting.
If you are an event organiser or venue operator: Obtain both IPRS and PPL India licences before any event where recorded or live music is performed. These licences are venue-specific and event-specific — a licence obtained for one event does not automatically cover subsequent events.
Conclusion: Broadcasting Rights Are a Web, Not a Single Thread
Broadcasting and performing rights under Indian copyright law are not a single right but an interconnected web of distinct interests — the musical composition, the sound recording, the cinematograph film, the performer’s contribution, and the broadcaster’s own rebroadcast right. Each interest is created by a specific statutory provision, vests in a different party, and requires a separate licence for commercial exploitation.
The Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012 strengthened performers’ rights significantly, introduced the Section 31D statutory licensing mechanism, and created an inalienable royalty right for performers and authors that cannot be contracted away. These changes collectively made Indian copyright law far more protective of creators — and far more demanding of broadcasters and platforms.
Understanding this framework is not an academic exercise. For every musician whose songs are played on a streaming platform, for every broadcaster seeking to avoid infringement liability, and for every event organiser wanting to run a legally compliant venue, the provisions of Sections 31D, 37, 38, and 38A are as commercially significant as any contract term.
At Unimarks Legal Solutions, we advise musicians, performers, record labels, broadcasting organisations, streaming platforms, event organisers, and content creators on copyright licensing, performing rights registration, broadcasting agreements, infringement enforcement, and disputes before the High Courts and copyright authorities.
Protect your creative work and secure your licences correctly → [INTERNAL LINK: Copyright Registration and Advisory — Unimarks Legal Solutions]
Also read: Copyright in Cinematographic Films and Sound Recordings — The Complete Indian Legal Guide → [IRead Here] Also read: Copyright Assignment and Licence in India — What Sections 18, 19 and 19A Require → [Read Here] Also read: Moral Rights Under Section 57 — What Survives Every Copyright Assignment → [Read Here]
About the Author
Advocate Suresh Kumar has a law practice specialising in Intellectual Property Rights, Commercial legal advisory, debt recovery, commercial litigation, and dispute resolution for domestic and international clients. He is enrolled with the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and represents clients before all courts and forums in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. This article reflects his understanding of the current legal position and is intended solely for informational purposes.
Disclaimer
This article is published by Unimarks Legal for informational purposes only. It is not intended to constitute legal advice or to create an attorney-client relationship. The contents are based on Indian law as applicable at the time of writing and are subject to change. Readers should not act upon the information in this article without seeking independent legal counsel. Every legal situation is unique, and the application of law depends on specific facts and circumstances. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. This publication is made in compliance with the Bar Council of India Rules, which prohibit advertising or solicitation by advocates. Any information received through this article should not be construed as legal advice.
For specific legal guidance on your matter, you may consult a qualified advocate in your jurisdiction.
