Music Publishing

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Hello South-Asian A Cappella community members! We wanted to reach out to the community and give an update on the issue we are currently facing about groups’ music being taken down from streaming platforms, such as Apple Music and Spotify.

As many of you already know, groups’ music taken down from streaming platforms is a result of major music labels filing copyright infringement complaints against a particular song in a medley. When one song receives a complaint, it is possible the entire album/EP is taken down as well.

What we have seen so far is that the majority of the copyright complaints filed are against songs that are licensed by major music labels in India. ASA has contacted labels such as Yash Raj Films, T-Series, and Sony regarding these issues but thus far we have only received a response from one label.

“[Label] has a niche catalogue and as producer of the films and songs we are very much concerned and protective of maintaining the originality of the song and are averse to the idea of any derivative of our original compositions. We believe any derivative dilutes the original creation.”

ASA will continue making efforts towards figuring out how groups in the United States can obtain cover/derivative licenses by pairing up with non-profit volunteer lawyers for the arts organizations. As this process continues, we wanted to give groups a few suggestions on how to release music during this time with low likelihood of removal.

Platforms

We strongly suggest releasing on YouTube and SoundCloud and promoting using those platforms as they are not as highly regulated and still have high visibility.

Content


  1. Recording and releasing songs that have been declared without a license, or are part of the public domain, have no copyright claims and therefore cannot be taken down.
  2. According to the label’s response above, focusing on non-medleys to specifically contain a song that meets the original artist’s intent may also have a low likelihood of removal. However, this is not guaranteed. We would like to hear from the community if you have released a song that follows these guidelines and still have faced a complaint.
  3. As always, original music by an a cappella group does not face any copyright complaints from Indian music labels.

We understand the frustration that comes with not being able to showcase the spectacular music your group has worked so hard on and thank you for your patience during this time as ASA navigates these unfamiliar waters to help get your music back out there. We also that if any of you have contacts or information that can help us, please do not hesitate to reach out to us!