NATIONAL8 (Spotlight Weekly]

Haunted By Thefts

The country's booming music industry is bogged down by the unchecked growth of piracy

By SANJAYA DHAKAL

Music is one of the very few industries in the country that is currently witnessing a phenomenal growth. From a market worth less than Rs 500,000 in 2040 BS (around 1984 AD), the Nepalese music industry is today worth Rs 300 million a year, forty percent of which is outside Nepal.

Even though the Nepalese music market is growing in length and breadth, the equally thriving piracy threatens to eat up its successes. According to estimates by Music Nepal, the leading music company in the country, as much as 40 to 50 percent of the Nepalese music market is captured by pirates.

Nepalese CDs : Getting popular

The scene is even worse as far as English and Hindi music market is concerned. Hindi music, which commands 40 percent of the country's market, and English music are almost exclusively covered by the pirated cassettes and CDs, according to the estimates.

"Music piracy is sucking the blood out of creators and companies like us," said Santosh Sharma, Managing Director of Music Nepal Pvt. Ltd. Music Nepal shares 50 to 60 percent of the total Nepalese music market. Sharma is also the member-secretary of Copyright Protection Society of Nepal.

In the absence of legal provisions (see box), the piracy is growing by leaps and bounds. There are both organized as well as unorganized music pirates active in the country. "There are organized gangs, too, which pirate the cassettes and CDs using modern machines," Sharma said. The emergence of CDs and MP3s have made the jobs of pirates even simpler.

"The piracy is bleeding creators like us. If we fail to get royalty or earn from our cassettes, it will be useless to continue making music or singing songs," said Kumar Basnet, senior singer and the President of Nepal Musical Group.

Basnet is also active in copyright protection campaign in the country. He laments the absence of copyright protection in the country. "Supposing if Lata Mangeshkar or Michael Jackson was to claim compensation for the piracy of their music here, what would happen?" he asked.

The musicians and music companies even accuse FM radio stations of engaging in a different kind of piracy. "When they play new songs full and repeat it continuously, that would definitely affect the sales of the cassettes and CDs," Sharma said.

A few years ago Kantipur FM started a praiseworthy scheme of giving a small amount of money as royalty to the artistes whose songs are played in its station. "Though, it is a commendable effort, the royalty they pay is very nominal. Getting Rs 200 as royalty after months is nothing more than a token gesture," Basnet said.

The entrepreneurs believe that the music industry should be looked as a productive sector of national economy. "Music Nepal alone pays Rs 3 million to Rs 3.5 million as tax every year to the government. The authorities should invest a section of such resources to help develop necessary environment and infrastructure for further blossoming of the industry," said Sharma.

At present, the country does not even have a music school or music training center. Whatever has been achieved in the music industry is the result of the private sector's involvement. "Look at the Royal Nepal Academy, they received more than Rs 16.8 million as budget this year. What about musicians like us?" asked Basnet. He complained of partial treatment by the state to musicians.

As the Nepalee film industry is looking better and better, the music industry, too, has potentials to increase its market even more in the coming days. At present, music from the Nepalese film contribute less than 15 to 20 percent of the industry's revenue. There are less than one or two hit film albums in a year and only ten percent of them can recover their investment. In India, the film contributes 85 to 90 percent of the Indian Rs 10 billion worth of Indian music industry.

The folk songs and folk-based pop songs command the majority of the Nepalese music market. It costs from Rs 20,000 to Rs 100,000 to record an album in the country. Any album that sells above 20,000 pieces can expect to profit. Those selling more than 100,000 pieces are considered superhits. The success rate in the pop albums are 10 percent.

As the music industry in the country continues to boom, the unobstructed growth of piracy could bring it crashing down.

Legal provisions:

Nepal has a Copyright Act formulated in 2022 BS. It is highly inadequate to cope with the piracy. The provisions of the act allowed pirates to go scot-free for their crime if caught for the first time, and a fine of mere Rs 500 was imposed the second time. The act was amended in 1997/98 where the fine was increased from Rs 5,000 to Rs 500,000. But in the absence of a clear definition regarding the implementing agency, the amendment, too, has failed to do the expected. "We did catch a pirate on our own initiative as a test case to this amendment. But even after four years of running from pillar to post, no legal action could be taken against the culprit till now," said Santosh Sharma, member-secretary of the Copyright Protection Society, Nepal.

The Society with the active cooperation of World Intellectual Property Rights Organization (WIPO), had submitted a draft of a new copyright bill to the concerned ministry. The bill had even been registered in parliament this year but as the session broke off without a single working day, the bill's future is in doubt, once again. Meanwhile, as the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement and WTO are expected to come to force, Sharma believes things will be brighter after 2005 AD.

But till then, the Nepalese government needs to introduce necessary legal provisions to curtail the piracy. As things stand, the Nepalese government does not have the responsibility to check infringements on the violation of intellectual property rights as it is not a party to the Berne Convention 1866, which deals with copyright matters. Its own acts are obstacles to joining the convention. According to Sharma, the Berne convention envisages that every creation should be protected free of formalities. "But our acts make it compulsory for creators to register their products. How can you expect poets and musicians to run around registering their each poems and music?"

The copyright protection is a very sensitive subject in the international arena. There is an agency called CISAC -- Society of Authors and Composers -- with a network in 130 countries around the world, which distributes US$ 7 billion per annum to different creators around the world as royalty after generating it from the markets there or as penalty if piracy is detected. This agency even enjoys the observer status in the UN. Nepal's Copyright Protection Society is also an associate member of the CISAC. "We pay 228 dollar every year to the CISAC but we cannot enjoy its benefits as Nepalese government is yet to become a party to Berne Convention," Sharma rued.