I lead the India legal team at JioSaavn. That would entail handling every aspect of the business that the company has forayed into.
When we work with a team as varied as ours, our biggest role as an In House Counsel is balancing and working through the legal, commercial and business interests to deliver an optimal document.
My primary responsibility is negotiation and drafting the licensing deals with labels and partners. I also assist my GC who sits out of New York in structuring and negotiating the deals with Artists who sign up with our inhouse Label “Artist Originals” or as we call it – AO.
I think one of our most interesting areas is “Podcasts” and “Original Content” and we do a few things with regard to it
The legal team’s job is to support/ assist the team in all of the above, to get the documentation in place and also to ensure that the Podcast Terms securing the platform and the end-users is up-to-date.
We also work on Anti- Piracy initiatives & overseeing dispute resolution work for the Company as and when needed.
I started out as a law firm recruit in 2005 in a firm called “Paras Kuhad and Associates” at their Mumbai office. The major areas which I was handling at that time was banking and securitisation and a lot of work related to debt restructuring for NPAs.
Post which I joined Economic Laws Practice and had the opportunity to work with Vikram Nankani, one of the foremost Tax lawyers in the country.
Then I shifted to the corporate space with Reliance Entertainment handling work related to film production, distribution, loan financing, mergers and acquisitions. It was at this time that the Copyright Amendment, 2012 came to the forefront and I was fortunate enough to actively lead the litigation on retrospective effect of the Copyright Amendments in relation to the remake of the film “Zanjeer” before Justice Kathawala in Bombay High Court.
Sony Music after this was my foray into music and copyrights and life has never been the same. I did a 5.5 year stint at Sony and understood the world of sound recordings, publishing rights and how music moves the world.
JioSaavn is where I am now and music streaming to be honest is an absolutely dynamic ever changing world that has made me minutely understand and comingle both the legal and the commercial in the most seamless manner possible.
I think, over time, an in house counsel has graduated from being a mere support function to someone who directs and leads the legal and regulatory aspects of a company. In view of this, we need to be constantly abreast and alert of the ongoing changes in the legal landscape and be skilled to navigate through those changes. Though we still need the outside counsel to step in in certain areas, most of the technical aspects of the deals we do i s within our grasp. There is no one better than an in house counsel to understand the company ethos and how to visualise and actively deliver the vision of the management along with helping the teams understand how best to achieve it within the current reg ulatory landscape.
Necessary skillset, promptness and ability to manoeuvre a difficult situation and not to mention – reasonable fee quotes.
Favourite Gadget – My Iphone
Favourite App – JioSaavn obviously
Favourite Writing Instrument – My pen
Favourite Holiday Destination – My hometown Siliguri at the foothills of the beautiful hill station Darjeeling
Favourite Cuisine – Bengali
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