The Indian Performing Right Society Ltd unveils ‘IPRS 2.0’

~IPRS announces a major upgrade of its operating system and services~

 Implementation of Members Self-Serve portal

 Licensing deals with major digital players YouTube, Spotify, Amazon Music, Facebook,

ALTBalaji and OLA, paving the way to a more rewarding future for music creators

 Re-admission as Member to CISAC (the International body setting the highest standards

for 232 Copyright Societies)

 Distribution of royalties & relief funds during the pandemic

 New state-of-the-art database, revamped infrastructure & workforce driving the change

India, August 2020 – India’s only Copyright Society representing the authors, composers, and

publishers of music, The Indian Performing Right Society Limited (IPRS), announces the

implementation of the world’s most advanced operating system for Copyright Societies. With

this considerable investment, using cutting edge technology developed by Canada’s Dataclef,

IPRS will provide the highest level of transparency for its members and licensees. With an

authoritative database of millions of musical works and unlimited scalable processing capacity,

this robust system will provide the best-in-class monetization capacity for the Society's

members.

To provide greater control and transparency to its members, IPRS is launching a portal where

every member can edit personal information, access the list of his works, request modifications,

submit new registrations, view a detailed royalty tracking and history of royalty payments.

IPRS 2.0 also includes state-of-the-art license administration. Strategic deals with leading

brands, digital music services, and OTT players have already opened new revenue for its

members: YouTube, Facebook, Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music, ALTBalaji, or Ola, to

name a few. With its scalable system, the Society can accurately process quadrillion lines of

data and claim royalties across all broadcast and digital platforms.

While IPRS is collecting royalties for Indian and international repertoire in the Indian market, it

also collects royalties for Indian musical works used in overseas markets. This process involves

managing various data formats, varied and fluctuating currencies, and intense coordination

with Societies across the globe.

IPRS distributed royalties of sixty crores (USD 8M) to its members since the commencement of

the lockdown starting from April and set up an emergency relief fund of nearly four crores

(USD 535,000) for its members impacted by the pandemic.

Speaking on this milestone, Mr. Javed Akhtar, Chairman of IPRS added: “The world as we

know it is evolving at a furious pace and our music industry is no different. IPRS 2.0 is a

momentous step forward in keeping pace with the changing times and bringing about positive

change in our members’ lives. Our focus is clear and two-fold; on the one hand we want to bring

in greater transparency. On the other hand, we want to leave no stone unturned and leverage

every opportunity to ensure our members can reap all benefits possible of their hard work and

creative acumen. Our aim is to create a more engaged eco-system where we continue to grow

and flourish as a community-driven by our shared passion and drive.”

Mr. Rakesh Nigam, CEO of IPRS said: “Our five-decade journey has been phenomenal, and we

feel privileged and honored to offer a new chapter in our collective growth journey to our

esteemed members. The new portal will bring in a high level of transparency into our operations

where our members can view and check their repertoire at their own convenience. This will help

eradicate obvious errors that occur due to bad data, wrong IPs, duplicate submissions, etc. We

are confident that with the new technology deployment, we can overcome these challenges and

offer better value to our members. Further, IPRS 2.0 also witnesses numerous strategic alliances

as we have recently signed up licensing deals with social media channels and OTT platforms like

YouTube, Spotify, Amazon Music, Facebook, ALTBalaji and Ola opening new revenue channels

for our members. With IPRS 2.0, the journey that began three years back is adding to its list of

achievements, the Will to set new benchmarks in the music industry, creating more

opportunities for the authors, composers and publishers of music.”

Mr. Jeff King, CEO of Dataclef added: “As an organization which is dedicated to advancing the

efficiencies of rights organizations globally, Dataclef is pleased to have the opportunity to

partner with The Indian Performing Right Society Limited (IPRS). India is an expanding market

with great potential for the music industry, it is essential that this growth continues to be

supported by a strong Collective Society. We are collaboratively working with IPRS to design a

more robust platform from which members can transparently and easily access data, align to

the vision defined by IPRS. It is great to see a society actively investing in its staff and

infrastructure to ultimately empower its members.”

After the new Board, elected in March 2017, it made significant changes to its constitution and

professional rules, IPRS was granted registration as a Copyright Society in November, 2017 by

the Government of India. One year later, IPRS was readmitted as full member by the Paris-

based International Confederation of Authors and Composers Societies (CISAC), the apex body

of 232 Authors' Societies in 121 countries representing more than four million creators. While

addressing its General Assembly held at Tokyo the following May 2019, CISAC’s Chairman called

IPRS the “fastest-growing Copyright Society in the world". IPRS is currently completing a

Development Review by CISAC to certify global best practices in corporate governance,

transparency, licensing, collections, and distribution of royalties.

Adding to the above, CISAC Director General Gadi Oron said, “I would like to congratulate IPRS

on serving the Indian and global music creators community for over half of a century. IPRS has

undergone major changes in recent years and its return to the CISAC network in 2019 signaled

its successful reform. We are pleased to note the great effort and dedication of IPRS and the

society’s commitment to meeting international best practices. Although the society suffers from

the COVID-19 crisis, like all other societies around the world, its work continues and its efforts to

continuously improve its operations are evident. I have no doubt that we will see IPRS reaching

new highs in the coming years, and that, turning into its 51 st year of operation, it will continue to

uphold the highest international standards of governance while working hand in hand with

sister societies around the world, for the benefit of creators.”

About IPRS:

IPRS is India’s only Copyright Society registered under the Copyright Act, 1957 representing the authors,

composers, and publishers of music. It counts more than 5,500 of India’s best-known authors, composers, and

music publishers as its members. IPRS is authorized under the Copyright Act, 1957 to carry on the business of

issuing and granting of licenses in respect of musical works and literary works associated with musical works

assigned to it by its members. These revenues are collected and distributed to its members including the authors’

statutory royalties after deducting its administrative expenses, for the exploitation of the works either by way of

live performances and/or sound recordings through any medium except when exhibited as a part of a

cinematograph film shown in a cinema hall.