Kathmandu, March 14:

Music Royalty Collection Society-Nepal (MRCS-N) and Nepal Copyright Protection Society (NCPS) are jointly planning to implement a strategy to collect royalty by mid-April and pay the creators — musicians, lyricists and singers — as per the provision prescribed by the law.

President of the MRCS-N Yadav Kharel said they had come up with concrete strategies and principles to collect the royalty from different media. Kharel said they had already developed a system and legal documents required for the process. He informed that they would collect two per cent of the profit earned by a radio or TV programme as royalty for the creators. This will guarantee financial assistance to and honour of the creators, Kharel said.

Bir Bahadur Rai, registrar at the Nepal Copyright Registrar’s Office, said the new campaign had been initiated but added that it might take some time to address other related issues. Rai said the office would effectively monitor whether or not the principles were being implemented. “We will make field visits and monitor new developments during its implementation,” Rai added. He also assured that the office would take action based on complaints filed by the creators, but added that the campaign was still in its preliminary phase.

Santosh Sharma, general secretary of the NCPS, said NCPS would collect royalty and the MRCS-N would help NCPS to identify the users and authorise them to use the creations that the NCPS represents. Sharma said the MRCS-N would distribute royalty to the owners after deducting necessary administrative costs. He also urged the creators to support MRCS-N’s efforts by signing agreement with it and providing their moral support to the campaign.