Ilaiyaraaja and AR Rahman are the latest to join Indian Performing Rights Society. The organisation was formed in an attempt to ensure that music directors and lyricists get their due.
Chairman Javed Akhtar said that the music composers were roped in as part of their regional drive. The IPRS is set to distribute royalties of over Rs 13 crores among music composers and lyricists. At a meeting, chairman Javed said that IPRS was an organization by and for its members. After carefully assessing the situation and analyzing the problems, the organization has come up with its first plan of action.
IPRS started their drive in South India, as it was the country’s largest music producing and exporting region.
“In the coming months, we will expand this regional drive so as to cover all the main music production centres of the country,” Javed told the Deccan Chronicle.
In recent years, the issue of copyright has become a game changer in the film industry. In an unprecedented move, SP Balasubrahmanyam was slapped with a legal notice for singing Ilaiyaraaja’s compositions without seeking his permission. However, SPB said that he was ignorant of the legalities and also added that he would not sing Raaja’s songs in his shows henceforth.
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Singers from the industry, opined over the issue. Armaan Malik, who sang a song for Ilayaraja in Ki & Ka, said it was the job of the event managers to make sure they have the necessary legal requirements before a performance. Abhijeet Bhattacharya told the Deccan Herald that unlike the West, intellectual property was owned and controlled by the producers of content, leaving no room for sharing of residuals and royalties with the original composers, lyricists and even writers of content.
Abhijeet also added that unlike Bollywood, Ilayaraja and AR Rahman have a royalty system down south, which makes them owners of their content.