God , this copyright subject is complicated. Over at RMIC someone informs that there is a case in the courts over Gauhar Jan’s recordings. How someone, I presume her family, is claiming copyright on recordings from almost 100 years ago I do not know. Maybe the court case is more complicated. There was a ruckus over copyright a year or so ago when NCPA informed that it was intending to commercially exploit its music archives. Aneesh Pradhan and Shubha Mudgal were vocally opposed to the plan that didn’t seem to take enough cognisance of artists’ permission. Although their intentions are no doubt noble, I was not completely convinced. The reality seemed far from the ideal. For example, for, say, old recordings of khadim Hussain Khan the harmonium, or sarengi player’s descendants should be searched out and their permission too, and payment schedule determined. Maybe even the tamboura strummers! On the other hand the free downloading of music from the internet seems to be completely uncontrollable. Who hasn’t been thrilled by some of the wonderful videos on youtube? You can be sure that there on youtube and the other music download sites permission has not been solicited. The more music that is avaliable, the more it is appreciated. I have heard excellent artists who are not well-known and not commercially published. I have also put on the internet recordings that I just love and I hope that they are listened to. Noone would have paid even 10 rupees for a cd of that music.
Take the case of Kesarbai Kerkar. She was adamantly against recording her music. I think hers was extreme possessiveness. All India Radio- no, who knows who might listen where and when, careful not to sing the full composition- someone in the audience might learn it! Gajananbua Joshi was banned from her concerts because she heard him imitating her on one of his radio broadcasts. Thus we have very few recordings of her eventhough she sang up until the early 1970s. Unlike her Ustad Faiyaz Khan recorded prolifically on the radio until his death in 1950. The downside of that though is that according to Ustad Yunus Hussain Khan most of the recordings were done in his twilight years when he was diminished and his true greatness is therefore not presented. It was Ustad Amir Khan whose music was so perfectly suited to the recording medium. New things keep appearing, published and pirated. I hope it keeps coming!
I don’t know what the answer is to this copyright mess. Yes, artists should be properly compensated for the music. I guess downloading free is wrong. Internet is changing things so fast I do not see how the law can keep up without draconian controls and more government interference. I hope that restrictions and the probability of legal processes do not restrict the activities of archives and collectors. I guess the NCPA project has been cancelled. When the internet debate was going on at Shubha and Aneesh’s blogs, I had sent an email to suvarnalata rao at the ncpa bringing it to her attention. Rather than joining in a healthy debate though, she chose to remain silent. pathetic, really.
Here was an odd case recently http://news.chennaionline.com/national/HC-refuses-to-stay-release-of–Paathshala-/42dcb56b-5884-4e5b-82b0-5f2f60058ff9.col Even worse than serial filmi-music thief Pritam, the producer here just seems to have lifted the songs directly from the poor composer who lost the case. Seems he was too late! Reminds me of when I read in some forum that Vasant Desai was the composer of “Bole re papiya” the famous composition in miyan malhar sung by Vani Jairam. Someone else wrote in to say that no, vasant desai wasn’t the composer, it was another film composer from earlier on, or was it his guru’s ustaad? I forget. The composition is in Bhatkhande and Sadarang, the composer’s name is in the composition. Pritam, trolling the hit music from uruguay to sumatra finds catchy tunes and redoes them in mumbai, secure in the knowledge that if anyone does notice they are unlikely to move the courts in India. He has been uncovered many times already but it doesn’t seem to matter.
some of the things being said on the copyright issue sound downright absurd. yes of course you cant just go and copy the oxford english dictionary and sell it as your own even though the dictionary is over a hundred years old. but that is because it is NOT the same dictionary, it has gone through many editions. in contrast you can publish any dickens novel you want. but you cant copy a recent edition which has been edited and has commentary by some english prof.
i am not a lawyer–but i presume you cannot simply duplicate an old gauhar jan recording that has been cleaned up and digitised by emi, and sell it as your own. but you can certainly get an old 78 rpm and clean it up yourself and sell your version. of course emi may have the original prints so you cant match their quality
Best leave it to the lawyers I guess. More government control is a disturbing prospect. I was curious though what the court case concerning Gauhar Jan’s records was all about. I guess we will find out in due course.
Let’s just hope that all these court cases lead to more wonderful recordings becoming widely available in a way that supports musicians…