India is tackling music’s oldest problem: chaos. By October 2025, a Centralised Digital Music Licensing Registry will launch. This is not just bureaucratic news. I see it as a potential blueprint for the global creator economy.
Right now, music licensing in India is a fragmented mess. Multiple societies. Manual processes. Endless disputes. Royalties vanish in the chaos. This registry promises to be a single source of truth.
For creators and publishers, this is the first step toward real transparency. The value is direct. Faster licensing for anyone who needs music. Fewer disputes over ownership. Cleaner metadata ensures royalties reach the right people. Faster. This is how you build trust. This is how you ensure creators get paid. Period.
The impact will ripple far beyond recordings. The registry was announced at a meeting focused on promoting live events. That connection is critical. Imagine a filmmaker or game developer clearing a song in minutes, not months. This speed could unlock massive value in India’s booming OTT and gaming markets.
This is how I see it: the world should be watching. While the US navigates complex blanket licenses and Europe operates in silos, India is building a digital-first, centralised system. This is not just an Indian solution. It is a template for every emerging music economy.
But let us be clear. This registry is not a magic bullet. It is critical infrastructure. Its success hinges on one unglamorous factor: data hygiene. Garbage in, garbage out. The system’s power will only be as good as the metadata we feed it.
In my experience, the timing is perfect. As AI-generated music floods the market and global rights debates intensify, we need systems built for transparency and speed. India is not just fixing a local problem. It is building a foundation for the next era of music.
So what does this really mean for creators and labels? The responsibility for accurate metadata now shifts to us. We must get our own data in order. Now.
The registry is a start. It signals a crucial shift. A move toward a system where technology finally serves creativity, not the other way around.
The blueprint is drawn. The build starts now.
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