Worldwide: Music and the Arts

The Indian Performing Right Society Limited (IPRS) is a copyright society registered under Section 33 of the Copyright Act, 1957. It administers and collects royalties on behalf of authors, composers, and music publishers for the public communication of musical and literary works. Under Section 2(ff) of the Copyright Act, 1957, ‘communication to the public’ includes any transmission of a work, by wire or wireless diffusion, broadcast, cable, satellite, or any other means, that makes the work accessible to the public. Digital platforms, apps, and online services that incorporate music into their product therefore fall squarely within this definition.

Any business that uses copyrighted music in India, whether in a mobile application, digital platform, live event, broadcast, or commercial production, must obtain authorisation from the relevant copyright holders. In India, there are two primary routes through which this authorisation can be obtained: (i) a direct licence negotiated with and granted by the rights holder (or its authorised representative), or (ii) a licence obtained through a registered copyright society that administers the rights of multiple owners on a collective basis.

South Korea’s largest music copyright collective, the Korea Music Copyright Association (“KOMCA”), has reversed its prior ban on registering AI-assisted musical works.

At long last, Hollywood has thrown its hat into the generative AI lawsuit ring.

The entertainment industry is seen as a world of glamour, fame and opportunity. It is considered as a dream destination for countless aspiring artists.

Thus, ownership and revenue participation are no longer passive contractual outcomes but central bargaining variables in modern entertainment deals.

With the evolution of generative artificial intelligence (AI) constantly growing in pace, countries around the world are scrambling to update their laws to tackle new challenges and opportunities posed by this technology.

In October 2023, several large music publishers, Concord, Capital CMG, Universal and ABKCO, ( the "Plaintiffs") brought copyright infringement proceedings against Anthropic PBC ("Defendant") in the US, alleging the Defendant, an AI developer, had infringed on their rights by using their song lyrics catalogues to train its flagship AI product, "Claude".

Music sampling—the practice of taking snippets or "samples" of existing songs and using them in a new musical composition—has become central to modern music, especially in hip-hop, EDM, and pop.