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IPRS Explained: India's Performance Rights Society

The Indian Performing Right Society (IPRS) is the copyright society that represents lyricists, composers, and music publishers in India. It is registered under the Copyright Act, 1957, and is authorised to issue licences, collect royalties, and distribute payments to creators for commercial use of musical and literary works. If you write songs in India, IPRS is the body that collects your performance and mechanical royalties — the songwriter's side of the money.

Why IPRS exists

For decades, Indian music revolved around cinema. Composers and lyricists were often paid a one-time fee, and the music was treated as a byproduct of the film rather than standalone intellectual property. That changed with the Copyright Amendment of 2012, which gave legal recognition to the right of authors and composers to receive royalties whenever their music is used. IPRS collects those royalties — separate from what labels or distributors earn — and pays them directly to lyricists, composers, and publishers.

What IPRS collects

IPRS licenses music across telecom caller tunes, OTT platforms, radio, television, concerts, and public performances. In FY 2024–25, its total collections reached ₹741.6 crore (up 42%), with royalties distributed hitting ₹608.8 crore — its highest ever. Digital streaming remains the dominant revenue source, contributing over 80% of total income, with streaming income rising from ₹378 crore to ₹602.4 crore in a single year. Membership surpassed 17,000 by March 2025, with 3,808 new members joining that year.

Courts have backed creators' rights

Indian courts have repeatedly upheld IPRS and creators' royalty rights. The Bombay High Court held that music directors and lyricists are entitled to royalties from private FM radio broadcasters, even where broadcasters had already paid the sound recording owners. The Calcutta High Court ruled that telecom companies cannot offer caller tunes based solely on licences from labels — lyricists and composers retain independent royalty rights over the underlying works. Ownership of a recording does not extinguish the rights of the people who wrote the song.

What Indian songwriters should do

If you write songs, join IPRS and register your works. Membership alone is not enough — each song must be registered with correct credits and splits. Your distributor handles recording royalties; IPRS handles the songwriter's royalties. You need both. Payments go directly to members' bank accounts, and IPRS is the only body legally permitted to collect these publishing royalties on behalf of author-composers in India.

Write your own songs? Distribute with TIR and register with IPRS to collect everything →