Recognising economic and moral rights of performers (singers) in Sri Lanka: Lesson from the European Union and India

Abstract

As aptly stated by Charlie McCreevy “performing artists are no longer the ‘poor cousins’ of the music business.” A singer or performing artist is a cultural icon who combines artistry, skills and emotional expression. The music industry has always been an integral part of the cultural life in any country and at the heart of this form of art is the singer. As it is evident from recent cases, even though the songs become immensely popular the singer who sings the song is not adequately recognised nor is he or she rewarded adequately for the song. Most strikingly, singers in Sri Lanka have a longstanding grievance that the royalty do not see them throughout their lives and most of singers end up getting nothing. Against this backdrop, the purpose of this research is to examine the current status of performers rights in Sri Lanka and explore the possibility of strengthening the legal regime pertaining to the rights of the performers. The intellectual property (IP) Act, No. 36 of 2003 recognises singers as performers but falls short of guaranteeing moral rights...