MARGAO: The latest High Court order quashing the State government’s circular exempting music played at weddings and religious ceremonies from copyright action, has sparked a wave of concern across the tourism and entertainment sectors.
Hoteliers, musicians and tourism industry associations are particularly alarmed, fearing that the lack of clarity around the implementation of this ruling could lead to significant disruptions at future events.
There are also growing worries that this decision could revive past issues, such as the confiscation of musicians’ equipment and potential misuse of the law by enforcement agents to unfairly target venues and clients.
Moreover, stakeholders are apprehensive about the added financial burden and bureaucratic hurdles this ruling could impose on organising events, which could make such functions more expensive and tedious to arrange.
“The cost of events will increase and the ease of doing business will get difficult. At a time when other international destinations for weddings and events are wooing customers with free visas, cheaper visas, easy and straightforward permissions, cheaper costs, affordable transport etc, instead we are digging our own grave,” said Jack Sukhija, President of Travel and Tourism Association of Goa
“As the government promotes destination weddings, we need to make things easier for them, or else this kind of red tape will only kill the business,” said Dixon Vaz, hotelier, and Cavelossim Sarpanch.
“As a result of this, the clients will move to different destinations, out of Goa and even out of India. At the moment, we have already seen a decline in events in Cavelossim compared to previous years. Right now, they have to run from pillar to post, dealing with authorities for CRZ, pollution, sound, and then the tourism department and local bodies, and now this will be an extra burden on the stakeholders concerned,” Vaz added.
DJ Claudio Tellis, Vice President of the Goa Entertainment Association (GEA) North Goa, raised several concerns about the recent ruling.
He said, “The problem isn’t with the payment of license fees, but with the exorbitant amounts being charged. The blackmail and extortion have reached such an extent that Goa, which relies heavily on tourism and destination weddings, may suffer.”
He warned that this situation could lead to a significant loss of revenue from taxes, not just in Goa but across the entire country, as “many may opt for cheaper, hassle-free destinations like Thailand etc.”
Tellis also pointed out the issue of multiple copyright companies, saying, “The multiplicity of copyright companies like Novex and PPL only adds to the burden since each of these copyright societies collects license fees individually. Maybe some standardization would help here.”
Additionally, Tellis said that the “entire judgment focused on whether the celebration of marriage after the religious ceremony is considered a religious function.”
“I believe the court answered in the affirmative without fully considering the facts of customary or traditional law, where every Christian wedding is traditionally celebrated with music and dance,” Tellis concluded.
Other musicians who have performed for such functions felt the need of the hour is for the government to create awareness on how this system works and what all needs to be done.
They added that the absence of such information, even for clients booking venues and performers, is the reason why there is so much confusion and the fear of being taken advantage of.
“The crux of the matter is the lack of clarity on all fronts, whether for law enforcers or for venues and clients. For perspective, having performed abroad, it is very clear what needs to be done. There, we had to provide a set list of the songs and the composers, and the fees varied depending on this list,” Omar de Loiola Pereira, Musical Director, Sounds from Goa, said.
“Furthermore, what has to transpire according to the law is also clear, including how the venue or the client bears the cost,” Pereira said.
“Unfortunately, here, the agents have, at least in the past, tried to twist and contort the law to their own convenience. While the venues or the clients would probably still have to pay for the licenses, care should be taken to ensure that musicians are not at the receiving end, where their equipment is confiscated, or blame is placed on them,” he concluded.
From a legal point of view, a senior lawyer said the onus is now on the government to issue a fresh circular so that hotels, musicians or prospective clients have a legal document to refer to so that there is no further confusion.
However, the lawyer added that the government should have argued more convincingly in the first place about why they had issued the circular.
“The government should have also highlighted the concerns stakeholders in Goa have over this issue, given what used to happen in the past, which may very well be repeated now following this ruling,” he added.
HC strikes down Goa govt circular which allowed music at weddings without attracting copyright violations
The Bombay High Court at Goa on August 13, 2024, struck down a circular dated January 30, 2024, which stated that playing of music at weddings would not amount to infringement of the Copyright Act.
The Phonographic Performance Limited filed a petition seeking the quashing of the circular as it violated their copyright.
The Court held that the Act, which is supposed to be ‘non-infringing’, has to strictly be within the umbrella of the expression ‘bonafide religious ceremony’, used in Section 52(1)(za) and has to be determined on a case by case basis. This meant that except functions which are classified as bonafide religious ceremony, all other music plying functions would need permissions under the copyright act
The bench maintained that since the word weddings was not specifically mentioned as within the ambits of ‘bonafide religious ceremony’, wedding function venues like hotels would need copyright permissions.