Music director Ilaiyaraaja has made headlines yet again for claiming copyrights for his compositions. His copyright consultant Pradeep Kumar has sent a legal notice to the famous karaoke app Smule for using Ilaiyaraaja’s songs without seeking permission. Early this year, the composer and his team sent a notice to notable singers SP Balasubrahmanyam, Chitra and others for performing his compositions at a concert without paying a royalty.
A R Rahman
However, it seems like Ilaiyaraaja is a one-man army in this battle. Over the years, he has taken legal action against radio stations and television channels that had aired his songs without proper permission. Even though the controversy is showing Ilaiyaraaja in a bad light among the public, his contemporaries from the industry are welcoming this move.
This issue which surfaced a couple of days ago has sparked a debate whether royalty is being taken seriously in Tamil film industry which largely thrives on music. It also raises the question of enforcing stringent laws regarding copyrights and Intellectual Property Rights.
Composer Nivas Prasanna who is working on Prabhu Solomon’s Kumki 2 says, “What Ilaiyaraaja sir has done is absolutely right, however, I wish that he deploys a proper management to handle the copyright issues. Even AR Rahman sir claims copyrights for his creations, but his management handles it in a sophisticated manner. Ilaiyaraaja sir’s fight is absolutely necessary. We need to accept the fact and his music is beyond all that.”
When asked whether claiming royalty would help budding composers, he shares, “Of course it will be useful to other music directors in the country. Even though we have laws regarding this, I don’t think it would be of any use because we have not been following for years now. More than the law, it has now boiled down to the relationship between the producers and music composers.”
Vishal
Filmmaker Santhosh Gopal who has fought a copyrights case filed against his company by Motion Pictures Association in the US shares that the law keeps evolving and no one knows the intricacies of it. “In hindsight, we know that a singer has no rights over the song, only the composer can claim rights. This issue is complicated and with Ilaiyaraaja sir behind it, it is creating better awareness. The present situation is that even composers cannot claim royalty as corporates like Sony and Think Music has the rights. Someday, a lyricist or a singer can also claim rights,” he quips.
SP Balasubrahmanyam
Elaborating more over the audio rights, he says, “Three decades ago, the film’s producers held the audio rights. In my opinion, SP Balasubrahmanyam sir is right. Nobody knows who owns the rights — and even Ilaiyaraaja can’t show legal documents of certain old films. A composer of AR Rahman’s stature can make a request to corporate channels and share a part of rights — which is why he is able to use his Tamil compositions in Bollywood and Hollywood as well.”
Santhosh Gopal also adds that Hollywood follows more stringent laws — “Even if we hum a tune in our regional films, we need to pay a huge sum. On the other hand, there is also piracy which cannot be curtailed. You put up your original creation on a public forum, it is easily shared on platforms.”
Composer Vishal Chandrashekar claims that a registered corporate company can easily obtain rights and function. “If Smule is a free app, then there would be no question. But, it has weekly subscriptions and they might have earned a lot by now. Even if they restrict the number of songs (per user), it would be fair on their part. There are laws regarding copyrights, but how strongly they are enforced is the bigger question. I don’t mind songs being used in light music concerts like weddings, etc. But, when you are a well-established company, it is imperative to follow the copyrights act,” he discloses.
But what about fans and users? Vignesh VR, a software engineer and an active Smule user, who has recorded over 2,000 songs, is upset that he might no longer be able to sing his idol’s composition. “I started liking music by hearing his songs and being his fan for a long time, this has come as a shocker. All his compositions were chartbusters and it irks to know that we may not be able to lend voice to his numbers. Smule is a good platform for budding singers to sing more songs and cherish old memories by singing maestro’s songs. Hopefully, this gets solved soon and we get more opportunities to render Isaignani’s songs,” he concludes.
