Promise and perils of Sri Lankan performers' rights: the royalty collection in music

Performers’ Rights, a novel concept in the Sri Lankan law that was introduced by its recent Intellectual Property Act, made several promises to its singers. One of the main improvements anticipated by the performers’ rights regime (PRR) was the implementation of a proper and consistent royalty scheme in the country. Royalty collection was deemed as the ‘holy grail’ to the issues faced by singers in the music industry as well as the authors. Nevertheless, much to the dismay of the artists in the music industry, all attempts to implement a consistent royalty scheme in the music industry has so far not been fruitful. This article explores and questions whether the proper implementation of a royalty collection scheme would improve the economic position of the vocalists in the country and resolve the issues in the Sri Lankan music industry. The article will, while relying on empirical data gathered from Sri Lanka, make comparisons with other jurisdictions such as UK, USA and India in order to understand whether the Sri Lankan situation is distinctive and therefore require a different system to royalty collection that is proposed under intellectual property law.