Hyderabad: 79 hotels given notice over 1 lakh songs copyright issue

Hyderabad: On the approach of New Year’s eve, the biggest partying night in the year, some 79 hotels, pubs, cafes, resorts and restaurants have been served notices for infringement of copyright of 1,00,000 Bollywood songs. 

They have been playing the songs without permission, which attracts a penalty. 

The injunction notices have been served to resorts at Shameerpet, Moinabad, pubs in the city, and live events for December 31.

The injunction is from the City Civil Court of Hyderabad. It has been sent to Xtreme Sports Bar, Chiran Fort, Hard Rock Cafe in Banjara Hills, Over the Moon, Hylife, Amnesia Lounge Bar which are located in Jubilee Hills, 10 Downing Street in both Gachibowli and Begumpet, and Harry’s Pub in Ameerpet and many other joints in  the city.

The information has been collected from various advertisements displayed on hoardings, online, and from the ticket distribution carried out through contests on the radio. 

Vicky Madan, consultant for novex communications private limited explained, “There are 1,00,000 songs of four companies whose copyright is with the company and for commercial use it can’t be used without obtaining permission. The annual fees are paid by pubs and cafes depending on the size and the kind of crowd. A pub with a crowd of 500 people on weekends is charged '15,000 per annum. If there are celebrities coming to the pubs it gets scaled to '25,000 to '35,000 per annum. Similarly, event managers have to pay '5,000 to '10,000 per show depending on the price of the ticket if they are playing any of these popular songs.”

Those who do not take permission in case of commercial events are called at the last hour to the police station and made to pay, explained event manager Sanjay Khandelwal. 

Copyright is necessary for music and songs of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited, Eros International Media Limited, Yash Raj Films Private Limited and Tips Industries Limited. 

There are about 1,00,000 peppy numbers which are under copyright, the most famous being kala chasma, and baby ko bass pasand hai.