T-Series is confident to continue generating revenues from the FM radio broadcasters despite the drastic reduction of the music royalty rates recently. This was possible after T-Series managed to keep itself out of the ambit of the recent Copyright Board (CRB) order by obtaining an injunction from the Delhi High Court against the applicability of the CRB order on T-Series. As per the CRB order, the radio broadcasters will now get to pay 2% of their net advertising revenue as music royalty to the music industry as against paying on the hourly basis formula fixed by CRB in 2002.
It is estimated that the 245 private FM radio stations in the country paid around Rs 110 crore as music royalty to the music industry last year. After the CRB order, the radio broadcasters is likely to pay around Rs 15-20 crore annually as music royalty.
?The CRB order will not be applicable on us and we will be free to negotiate our rates with the FM broadcasters,? said Neeraj Kalyan, vice president, T-Series. T-Series will continue to negotiate with various radio broadcasters for the music royalty rates for its existing and future music labels. This is significant for T-Series as it has over 50% marketshare in the Rs 800-crore music industry and is said to release a bulk of the music for the future Bollywood films.
T-Series executives said the company had filed a writ petition against the CRB order. On September 15, the interim order from the Delhi High Court clarified that the rates fixed by CRB shall not apply to T-Series. However, the radio broadcasters are not perturbed by this move. ?In our mind, this was expected and is a procedural matter. No other music company has taken any action,? Prashant Panday, CEO, Radio Mirchi said.