MUMBAI: Indian Music Industry (IMI) still maintains the same view that fighting piracy together will help the music, film, book and gaming industry to grow as never before. However, the challenges that the body is facing today are budget constraints and less activity by the music fraternity.

IMI claims that it can register 3000 cases with 5 crores in four states and if the industry joins hand it can double its capacity and put an end to pirate sites operating in our country.

IMI secretary general Savio DSouza, in conversation with Radioandmusic.com, mentioned his target and the lack to achieve them due to few factors.

What happened at the WIPO meeting conducted by the Information and Broadcasting ministry?

There is a very important debate going on whether you want to bring a Broadcasting act that focuses on terrestrial broadcasting or take into account virtual broadcasting that takes place through the internet also. The Indian Government is of the view that they should take into account terrestrial broadcasting. I do not know the reason why we are not looking at internet broadcasting. I have asked for a note from the ministry to get their view so that I provide my view.

What is your view or take on the whole broadcasting act or the meeting that is taking place?

The world is going to be seamless and data is going to flow from one format to another. For example, I grew up reading one particular newspaper in the morning. Today, I read the same newspaper but the only change is that I do not read it physically but on the web or through applications. Today, I watch news on television but few years from now I might shift my medium. So one has to decide whether they want rules that amalgamate or rules that separate the structures. That is the challenge I will have to show.

This is my general opinion on why are we trying to keep it separate.

Will there be any training session conducted anytime soon?

We are going to police training program to Trichy and Siliguri. I will be there in Trichy for three days and then we will do Darjeeling and Siliguri. It is for building a capacity and not to create awareness. People know about piracy but do not understand the need to stop it. IMI only understands it and no other industry body goes around doing this. So the capacity has to be built.

Do you involve the youth in your campaigns for capacity building and awareness?

We tried doing it once with college and law students. There is a certain amount of resources that go behind it but I do not have the resources or the budget to have a sustained plan. You cannot do it in four colleges you have to do it in 100 colleges to see ground level movement. It will happen if the entertainment and copyright society work together.

Which states have built a force that would help curb piracy and is working in their favour?

Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala, have built capacity by building audio video anti-piracy cells. They are fighting under the Gonda Act. But the whole act will fall in place only if the owner of the copyright is willing to file a case. Then they can proceed in the matter. Other than the IMI member, no one really wants to do it.

Is the India music industry still flat, in terms of growth as predicated last year?

The growth is still the same; it is between 5 per cent and 7 per cent, but largely it is still flat. It is still maintaining the same pattern.

A large amount of revenue came through ring back tone. That is not what people want. Today, people want to listen to the whole song and they are getting music through various apps. New businesses are coming up but they are staying flat.

Today, non-Bollywood music is growing. Comment

Today, there is a decent amount of fan following for TV artistes through talents shows and there are a number of platforms where they can perform. There are forums being created for young talent in the non-film category, and they will get fans and a certain amount of traction.

The other thing is that India is a religious country and people play lot of devotional music so it is not unusually for the space to grow.

How much per cent is the share of Indie space in India?

It is around 15 per cent of the overall market share. It is largely film music and not just Bollywood. Film music from Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala and other regional spaces are making a huge impact in the overall share. West Bengal is a good space for Indie music as 60 per cent is film and the rest is for Indie music. Punjab is also a good space for non-film music. The remaining states have 90 per cent or less for film music.

What is happening in the accreditation space?

Truthfully, the way businesses are growing digital and through mobile phones, I do not think the present accreditation system is a good form of measurement to depend on.

People will have to look at streaming and then we need to collate the data and be able to measure downloading and streaming that takes place through appropriate techniques as we move forward. I have no means to verify it.

Apart from piracy, what are the challenges in India?

Organisations do not have the people who can deal with Copyright and they do not want to deal with the issue with piracy by building a capacity to curb piracy.

What is next for IMI?

We are looking at mobile licensing, Internet anti-piracy and public performance licensing, which are not new because the format that has existed has reached the virtual level and there is nothing beyond this. There will be variants that will come out and we need to find a way to handle these variants and deal with it.