Every few weeks a singer asks us some version of the same question: "Mera gaana radio pe chala, toh paisa kisko mila?" Usually it's a Haryanvi or Rajasthani track that a local FM station picked up, and the artist heard it in a friend's car. Fair question. And right now the Government of India is reviewing who gets to decide that price in the first place.
On October 12, Storyboard18 reported that the Ministry of Commerce is weighing a proposal to regulate the royalty rates broadcasters pay for music under Section 31D of the Copyright Act, 1957. A consultation paper is expected, and stakeholders will be invited to send their views. As of the last reports we could find, including a follow-up on October 17, that paper hadn't come out yet.
This isn't a streaming story. It's about radio and TV. But it touches money that a lot of independent artists don't even know they're owed, so it's worth understanding before the paper lands.
What Section 31D actually does
Section 31D came in with the 2012 amendment to the Copyright Act. It gives broadcasters a statutory licence: a radio or TV channel can broadcast published songs without negotiating with each owner, as long as it gives prior notice, pays royalties at the fixed rate, and announces the names of the authors and principal performers along with the broadcast.
So a station in Jaipur doesn't need to call every small label before playing a song. It follows the 31D process and pays.
Who wants what
According to Storyboard18, broadcasters, including radio and gaming broadcasters, want the government to set the rates. Their argument is certainty: they use a huge volume of music and want predictable costs instead of what they call arbitrary charges. Industry bodies like the NBDA and IBDF have been raising this with the government for a long time.
Music labels and artist organisations are on the other side. They say government-set prices would weaken market pricing and hurt what music earns.
There's also a digital angle. The Bombay High Court, in the Tips vs Wynk dispute, held that 31D doesn't cover internet streaming and downloads. Broadcasters have argued the statutory licence shouldn't be limited to traditional broadcasting. If a future proposal tried to stretch it towards digital platforms, that would be a much bigger deal for everyone who earns from streaming. Nobody has published such a proposal yet, so treat this as something to watch, not something that's happening.
How big is broadcast money, really?
For songwriters and composers, the clearest public numbers come from IPRS, the society that collects for authors, composers and publishers. Its annual report for FY 2025-26 says it collected ₹804.5 crore and distributed ₹628.3 crore to more than 13,700 members.
Streaming is still its single biggest source at ₹578 crore. But look at the rest. Television income went from ₹16.5 crore to ₹52.1 crore after long-pending talks with broadcasters were concluded. Public performance (hotels, restaurants, shops, gyms, events) rose from ₹101.7 crore to ₹150.8 crore. The report also complains that some licensees, including certain broadcasters, send no usage reports at all, or send them incomplete.
Radio isn't settled either. IPRS has suits in the Bombay High Court against Rajasthan Patrika and Music Broadcast Limited over whether FM stations must pay separately for the lyrics and music inside the recordings they play. Lawtext's case note covers the interim applications.
Put simply: how broadcast rates get set decides how much of this pot reaches writers and composers, and who sets them is exactly what's now under review.
What this means if you're independent
Most of the regional artists we work with, from Bhojpuri singers to bhajan mandalis putting out devotional albums, own both the song and the recording. That means two separate rights, and broadcast money can flow to both. A few practical things:
- If you write or compose, register with IPRS. Your distributor collects what platforms pay for the recording. It doesn't collect your performing-right royalty as an author. We wrote a step-by-step IPRS registration guide earlier this week.
- Get the credits right on every release. Section 31D requires broadcasters to announce author and performer names, and societies match money to names. A lyricist missing from the metadata is a lyricist who doesn't get matched. Our metadata checklist covers this.
- Keep your masters in your own name or your own label. If you've signed the recording away for a small one-time fee, whatever rate the government settles on will mostly be someone else's money.
- Read the consultation paper when it comes out. Consultations accept comments from stakeholders. Labels and big societies will respond. Small labels in Punjab or Rajasthan rarely do, and that's how the rules end up written without them.
We'll update this post when the paper is published.
Where RMX fits
What we do at RMX Music is the streaming side: we deliver your releases to 95+ platforms and you keep 95% of the royalties. More than 3,000 artists and 2,200 labels use us, and the Label account is a one-time ₹4,500 for life with unlimited releases. Keeping your recordings under your own label is the first step to collecting from every source, broadcast included.
If you want to put your catalogue under your own name, you can create your RMX account here.
*This post is reporting on public documents and news coverage. It isn't legal advice.*