No licence fee for songs at weddings or family functions, minister says

No licence fee or other payment is required to sing or play songs at a wedding, a family function or any other private gathering, Minister Vijitha Herath said on Saturday, in the government’s first public intervention in a dispute over music royalties that has run since mid-September.

Herath — who holds the Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism portfolio and spoke on the Iranian vessels question the same day — said there were no restrictions or charges imposed on people for singing at private events, including wedding receptions, and dismissed recent claims circulating on social media, the Daily Mirror reported.

He said lyricists and musicians hold rights to their creative works under national and international intellectual property law, and that discussions had taken place on mechanisms to ensure they are fairly compensated. Representatives of songwriter and musician associations, he said, had clarified that royalty arrangements are meant for commercial events organised to generate revenue — ticketed musical shows and concerts — where a share of the proceeds should go to lyricists and composers alongside the payments made to performing artists.

Suspended is not the same as never applied

The minister’s account leaves out how the position was reached. Regulations gazetted by the Association of Creators and Publishers of Sri Lanka (ACPOSL) came into force on 15 September and set fees of Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 125,000 banded by event type and headcount — a schedule that explicitly included private and corporate DJ, live and hybrid events, with the licence to be obtained 14 days in advance.

Those fees were not withdrawn. ACPOSL chairman Nilar N. Cassim told the Sunday Times on 27 September that after talks with the Event Management Association of Sri Lanka and the Ceylon Disc Jockeys Association — which raised practical concerns about how the scheme could be monitored — the issuing of licences for DJs, weddings and private functions had been put on hold. Licences remain mandatory for musical shows and corporate events. A final decision is due at the association’s general meeting in November.

ACPOSL’s governing board has separately said that claims the scheme had been scrapped were false, and that the programme would continue with parts revised and relaxed.

A narrower carve-out than the minister describes

There is a gap between the two formulations worth noting. ACPOSL has said private family functions held at home were never covered. The minister’s wording is broader — weddings and “other private gatherings” generally. Most Sri Lankan wedding receptions are held in hotels and banquet halls rather than at home, and it is the hotel-and-commercial-premises tier that ACPOSL said it was revising rather than removing.

A separate viral claim — that a licence was needed to chant the Jayamangala Gatha, the traditional blessing sung as a couple stand on the poruwa — was checked and found misleading in late September, with ACPOSL confirming that no fee applies to the chant.

The underlying grievance is not disputed

Both sides accept the principle. Piyal Perera of the Gypsies told the Sunday Times that around 90% of lyricists face financial difficulty and that a proper system is needed; composer Navarathna Gamage said musicians had never been properly paid for ringtone, cassette and platform use. The Sri Lankan Singers’ Association has questioned ACPOSL’s legal basis for imposing fees, how the amounts were set and how the money would be distributed. Cassim says the scheme follows an action plan drawn up with the World Intellectual Property Organisation as ACPOSL seeks membership of the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers.

Not reported

The Daily Mirror does not say in what capacity or at what forum Herath spoke, and he did not say whether the September gazette will be amended or revoked. ACPOSL’s promised official notice setting out a revised, simpler fee structure — including a concessionary schedule for small hotels — had not been published at the time of writing. Nor is it stated what happens to anyone who already paid a wedding or DJ licence fee between 15 and 27 September, or whether the November meeting could reinstate the suspended fees.

Sources

• Can you play songs at private functions without paying? — Daily Mirror, October 4

Background, cited and dated in the text above: Music licensing revised, but fees are a sticking point — Sunday Times, September 27; Fact Crescendo fact-check, September 28.