Singers demand royalties for songs

A conglomerate of popular singers such as S.P Balasubramanyam (SPB), K.J Yesudas and P. Susheela among many others joined hands and announced Monday here that all singers are entitled to royalties.

"Our intention is not to fight with anyone. Royalty is the money we demand for our voice. We don't intend to fight for this because it's our right. We are entitled to royalty by the government," said SPB speaking to reporters here.

"We want to ensure our future generation at least is not deprived of royalty because they deserve the due credit for their contribution," he added.

Singer Hariharan said under the copyright act, all singers are all eligible for royalty.

"Our rights are protected by Indian Singers Rights Association. A copyright act was passed in June last year and based on it all songs since 1963 are due for royalty," he said.

Some of the other singers present include S.P Charan, Naresh Iyer, Vani Jayaram, Mano, Karthik, Srinivas, and Tippu among many more.