Ilyaraja royalty row: Bollywood singers-composers stress there should be more clarity on copyright issues

Bollywood singers and composers feel it’s not right to hold a singer liable for singing songs of a composer and there should be more clarity on copyright and royalty issues.

Recently, legendary singer SP Balasubrahmanyam was slapped with a legal notice from music maestro Ilayaraja for singing his compositions without his permission.

National award-winning singer Balasubrahmanyam in his Facebook post claimed that he had received a legal notice from his music director friend Ilayaraaja’s attorney for singing the songs composed by him. The ace music director said he was ignorant of such legalities.

Balasubrahmanyam, who is currently on a world tour, has said he would not sing songs composed by Ilayaraja at his other upcoming concerts.

The world tour, SPB50, to commemorate Balasubrahmanyam’s 50^th year in the film industry, began in August in Toronto after which they performed in Russia, Malaysia, Singapore and Dubai besides numerous shows in India.

Popular singer Armaan Malik, who sang a song for Ilayaraja in “Ki & Ka”, says it is the job of the event managers to make sure they have the necessary legal requirements before a performance.

“Singers, performers are merely doing their job. The singers are not liable to seek permission from music composers.

“The event organisers of such tours or shows are supposed to have those legalities sorted out with PPL (Phonographic Performance Limited) or IPRS (The Indian Performing Right Society Limited),” Armaan told PTI.

Singer-composer Sona Mohapatra believes the issue should be looked at from a broader perspective and the state of ‘creation’ and ‘creators’ in the country should be brought to notice.

“It is an unfair environment, where, unlike the west, intellectual property is wholly owned and controlled by the producers of content and there is virtually no sharing of residuals and royalties with the original composers, lyricists and even writers of content.”