Several iconic Hindi film songs released in the 1950s and 60s, many of which remain deeply embedded in popular culture, are now completing their statutory copyright term and entering the public domain, if they haven’t already.
Under Section 27 of the Copyright Act, 1957, copyright in a sound recording lasts 60 years from the beginning of the calendar year following its first publication. Once that period ends, the recording enters the public domain, meaning no licence is required for use of the sound recording itself.
In effect, sound recordings released in the late 1950s and early 1960s have either crossed, or are now crossing, this threshold.
Licence-free classics
According to industry experts, the transition of pre-1965 sound recordings into the public domain affects stakeholders in different ways.
For users such as hotels, restaurants, event organisers and small businesses, the shift is positive. They can now use a substantial portion of golden-age music without incurring licensing fees—a position recently reinforced by the Delhi High Court. The change reduces compliance costs and removes long-standing uncertainty around older catalogues.
Rights enforcement entities, however, face a natural contraction of their licensable repertoire.
“The transition has significant legal and commercial implications across the ecosystem. It has a direct impact on rights holders and licensing intermediaries whose business models historically depended on monetizing archival catalogues. Companies such as legacy record labels and rights aggregators who derive substantial revenue archival portfolios materially see reduction in licensing income,” said Gaurav Sahay, founding partner of law firm Arthashastra Legal.
The transition operates as a significant positive in terms of costs and legal barriers for downstream users of music, Sahay added.
Revenue recalibration
The expiry of copyright in older film songs primarily affects music labels that historically owned or administered the sound recording rights, as well as licensing agencies that collect royalties on their behalf, agreed Sonam Chandwani, managing partner, KS Legal & Associates.
Once the statutory term expires, the recording effectively enters the public domain and any person is legally entitled to perform, broadcast or commercially use that recording without obtaining a licence from the original rights holder.
“This development is beneficial for businesses such as hotels, restaurants, event organisers, broadcasters and digital content creators because it removes the obligation to pay licensing fees for the use of those specific recordings. Conversely, it reduces the ability of legacy music companies to exercise exclusive control over certain parts of their catalogue. The immediate impact is therefore not on the creation of new music but on the commercial exploitation of older works that were previously monetised through licensing structures,” Chandwani pointed out.
Awareness gap
Large music companies are generally aware of how copyright duration works and have been planning around it. They continue to acquire rights to new music, work with new artists and expand into digital content, films and artist management, rather than relying solely on older recordings.
“Where awareness is still limited is among businesses that use music in public places. Many hotels, restaurants and event organisers are not very familiar with how copyright duration works. In practice, some of them may continue paying licensing fees simply to avoid legal trouble, even when the recording they want to play might already be in the public domain,” said Vishal Gehrana-partner designate, Karanjawala & Co.
Another practical issue is that there isn’t an easy public database in India where someone can quickly check when a particular sound recording was first released and whether its copyright has expired. Without that kind of information, it can be difficult for businesses to verify the status of older songs on their own, he pointed out.
Layered rights
There are important nuances to the rules.
Rakesh Nigam, CEO of the Indian Performing Right Society (IPRS), noted that the Copyright Act, 1957 protects different categories of works—literary works (lyrics), musical works (compositions), sound recordings and cinematograph films—each of which may have separate copyright owners.
“For example, the song Chaudhvin Ka Chand Ho was released in 1960. While the sound recording of the song may enter the public domain after completing its 60-year term from publication, the musical composition remains protected for 60 years after the composer’s death, which means until 2072. Therefore, royalties for the use of the composition would still be collected and distributed to the legal heirs,” Nigam said.
He added that current discussions largely relate to sound recording rights, while underlying musical and literary works may continue to enjoy copyright protection.
Labels and publishers are not passive observers of this transition.
Gaurav Dagaonkar, co-founder and CEO of Hoopr, a music licensing platform, said many proactive labels are re-recording classic underlying works to generate fresh sound recording copyrights, creating new revenue streams from the same songs.
“While they lose the ability to license these older recordings, enhanced circulation of public domain classics indirectly strengthens engagement with later catalogues that remain protected. Practically, stakeholders appear to be recalibrating their monetisation strategies shifting focus from legacy recordings to contemporary works where enforceable rights persist,” said Richa Pandey, partner at CMS INDUSLAW.