New Delhi, Dec. 20: Radio channels and music companies are still locked in a tussle over royalty despite repeated interventions by the information and broadcasting ministry.

The ministry had last week held a meeting with representatives of the warring sides along with the registrar of copyrights to start a fresh process for rationalising royalties. But the meeting, like the several that preceded it, failed to break the deadlock.

The matter will now be presented before the Copyright Board on January 28.

The squabble began after music companies demanded that royalty fees be doubled from the current rate of Rs 660 per hour.

At present, radio channels pay nearly Rs 100 crore as royalty to Phonographic Performance Ltd, which represents major music companies like Saregama India, Sony BMG Music, Universal Music, Tips Industries, Venus Records and Tapes, and others.

The Association of Radio Operators in India (AROI), which represents over 250 radio channels, argues that if the music companies’ demand is accepted, FM operators will end up paying nearly 50 per cent of their annual revenue as royalty.

The two sides have also locked horns over copyright. The music companies say tunes and lyrics should be treated separately and FM channels should take licence for both as playing either without licence amounts to copyright infringement.

The AROI says the levy for different genres of music — like film music, classical music, etc. — should be different and the fees should vary according to the revenue generation capacity of channels.

“All FM channels should not be weighed on the same scale. There are so many new FM channels coming up. If they have to pay the exorbitant amount the music companies are demanding, they will all be finished,” said an AROI official.

The music industry has also demanded action against FM stations for copyright violation.

Sources said the music company representatives alleged at the meeting that the government was encouraging copyright violation by not punishing the violators.

The I&B ministry, however, is hopeful that a compromise will be reached. “The very fact that the warring groups have agreed to sit together once again (on January 28) is itself a big thing given the history of their fight,” said a ministry official.

Earlier, on May 16, the Supreme Court had said the Copyright Board was the constitutional authority to decide on royalty rates.