The country's top 65 music companies, under the umbrella of Phonographic Performance Ltd (PPL), have decided to take to task those who do not pay the stipulated licence fees for public performance of their music, whether on records, cassettes or compact discs.

"Though still little known, we have decided to go ahead with implementing this aspect of the Copyright Act, and while we have already carried out raids in shops and business establishments in Mumbai and Calcutta, we are planning to go ahead with it in Delhi too," says Phonographic Performance Ltd 's northern-region field manager Manvinder Singh.

Under this provision of the Act, a variety of establishments, such as hotels, restaurants, bars, discotheques, shops, offices, exhibitions, airlines and railways, are supposed to pay a fixed yearly-licence fee to the industry forplaying music on a music system.

Under a PPL-evolved fee structure, which has all the top companies like HMV, BMG Crescendo, Magnasound, Polygram, Sony, Tips and Pan Music under its wings, the fee to be paid varies between a maximum of Rs 25,000 and a minimum of Rs 1,500 per annum.

Says singh, "We have our own field teams to make people aware about the fee to be paid to the industry under the Copyright Act for playing the music. But though a large number of establishments -- specially the multinational ones -- have started paying the licence fee, we still have a long way to go."

The PPL classification says while five-star deluxe hotels have to pay an annual licence fee of Rs 25,000, the rate gradually decreases to Rs 5,000 per annum for non-star category hotels.

The rates for discotheques vary between Rs 10,000 and Rs 7,500, while for restaurants, pubs, departmental stores, shops, banks and offices they range between Rs 2,500 and Rs 1,500 per annum.

For auditoria, cinema halls, exhibitions andamusement parks, the annual rate is between Rs 3,500 and Rs 1,500, while it is Rs 15,000 for airport and railway station and Rs 1,500 for every aircraft and train.

However, with people still not aware of the intricacies of the Copyright Act, PPL is facing hurdles in making them pay the licence fee, says singh.

"The main problem is that most are not even aware that they are breaking the law, and with this in mind we have decided to launch an awareness campaign before getting really harsh with violators," says PPL director (operations) Ramesh Jagtiani.

PPL, says Jagtiani, is a registered copyright body authorised by the government to collect licence fees on behalf of the music industry.In the raids it has, however, to take the help of local police as only the latter can book cases and make seizures under the law.

"We have carried out raids in some big departmental stores in Mumbai, including one owned by a top bollywood star, for playing music without paying the licence fee," says Singh.

Violation ofthe Copyright Act, points out Jagtiani, is cognisable, non-bailable offence attracting penalty up to Rs 2 lakh and imprisonment up to three years.

"We have to slowly become strict. Unless there is legal action against violators, people don't take things seriously," says Singh.

"We even face questions from fee-payers on what action we are taking against those who are not paying, implying whether they needed to get the licences at all," says Alaksesh Majumdar of PPL's field team in the capital.

"We are now concentrating only on the metros, and while the response has increased after regular raids in Mumbai and Calcutta, it is still very poor in Delhi, with most of the cinema halls and shops not paying the licence fee," says Singh. According to Singh, as PPL was authorised only two years ago to carry on copyright fee-related work, it would take some time before its mission gets into full steam. "Those who know about the provisions of the Act are ready to pay, and so we have to educate everyone," he says.The revenue collected by ppl was growing but not significantly.

Those paying the annual fees to PPL include multinationals and private banks, while "negotiation" is on with stationery and greeting cards major Archies for registering its 260 outlets, he says.

As the first step towards making its mission successful, PPL has issued advertisements in the media in the recent months about the need to pay licence fee for music played. As for now, there are many like the proprietor of a departmental store in the capital who asks indignantly, "Who is ppl to restrict me from playing music at my store?"