DIRECTOR ' S NOTE
Director , Strategy and Planning Ajay Prabhakar
Director , Business Development Pragash VM
Director , Marketing & Operations Sneha Ramesh
Editorial Advisor Nikila Srinivasan
Creative Director George Vedamanickam
Designer Manasi Doshi
Content Contributors Pramita Bose Souvik Chakraborty Shreya Bose Amogh Rao Aditi Sarawagi Deepa Natarajan Sriram Ravishankar
During a recent US concert tour , renowned singer SP Balasubramaniam ( SPB ) received a legal notice from Music Director Illayaraja . The notice claimed that SPB had committed copyright infringement and that he should cease to perform any of Illayaraja ' s compositions , failing which SPB and the organizers could be made liable for huge financial penalties . SPB ' s Facebook response to the notice created a stir in the Music Industry : SPB claimed that he was ignorant of such legalities , apologized for the incident and stated that he won ’ t be using songs from Illayaraja ’ s repertoire for the remaining duration of the tour .
India has an eons-old tradition of reproducing culture and artistry with little attribution and with impunity . This tradition had enabled much of our culture to spread for many centuries and evolve it to the form it has today . While this tradition is incompatible with modern copyright laws , the common man couldn ’ t care less : viewing copyright laws as draconian and a regressive way of effecting entertainment control . Not surprisingly , we witnessed some hilarious social-media caricatures on the alleged greediness of Illayaraja .
Tiding against the prevalent public opinion , The Score Magazine is a strong proponent of stringent copyright law . For India to gain a prominent position on the world stage for its cultural and intellectual contributions , it must set the stage for strong institutions that ferociously fights for the right of artists . The Indian Performing Right Society ( IPRS ) is one such informal body mandated for collecting royalties from event organizers for events happening in India . After deducting administrative charges , the Royalties collected are divided and distributed to Music Label , Music Director , and the lyricist of the songs performed . Unfortunately , IPRS is neither an efficient nor a transparent organization forcing many artists including Illayaraja to leave the organization .
Will this incident open the doors for a larger IPRS defection ? Will this force the industry to organize itself better to protect it ' s creators and artists ? We certainly hope so .
PRAGASH VM
Director - Business Development
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