ISRA Is The Sole Copyright Society For Administering The Rights Of Singers As A Category Of Performers.
Members of ISRA and that of its Affiliated Societies in the World are Singers (a category of Performers). Each Singer is the Performer of the Performance and/or the owner of the Performer's Right in a song (unless the Performer's Rights have been assigned) and each singer apart from the Performer's Right also has the Inalienable Right to Receive Royalty (the R3) for the commercial exploitation of their Performance, as guaranteed under Section 38A of the Copyright Act, 1957 read with Section 18(1) third and fourth provisos (Section 39A makes Section 18 applicable to Performers Rights with necessary modifications and adaptations). This Right to Receive Royalty (R3) can only be assigned to (a) legal heirs of the performers, or (b) a collecting society for collection and distribution. Any assignment to the contrary shall be VOID.
ISRA thus collects the R3 (based on Tariffs) on behalf of its Singer Members and that of its Affiliated Societies in the World and issues a Collection Clearance Certificate (the C3) to Users who want to commercially exploit/play/use the Performances of ISRA Singer Members. Thus, any User who plays/exploits/utilises the songs sung by ISRA’s and its affiliated society members is now statutorily required to obtain a Clearance from ISRA by paying the requisite Royalty to it as per prescribed Tariffs. Thus, weather they play Indian or International songs sung by Singer members, the User is required to pay the ISRA Royalties.