Musically yours

Abhay Deol has, in a first for a Bollywood actor and now producer, has spoken up against the archaic rules of recording labels that refuse to give singers any royalty for their creative work. He wrote about it extensively on his Facebook page and even sported a black eye at an awards ceremony on Tuesday night protesting the pressure T-series has put on him as a producer to get his music directors Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy to sign a contract ahead of the release of One By Two. Needless to say, the actor-producer has the support of the Indian music industry in what has been a long-drawn battle even after a law in their favour exists. Music labels, however, think differently.
Says Shankar Mahadevan, who is one of the composers of the film, "It is really unfortunate. The music composers association is formed for and by the composers and lyricists. We don't understand law. But we were informed by the association that the agreement we were being asked to sign is against the law."
According to the Copyright Act (Amendment) Bill 2012, authors or song creators are owners of the copyright, which cannot be assigned to the producers or record labels, replacing the earlier system. The amendments also specify that it will now be mandatory for broadcasters " both radio and TV " to pay a royalty to the owners of the copyright each time a work of art is broadcast. Abhay maintains that T-Series has been coaxing him to get the music composers to sign a contract with a clause that makes them forego the royalties to the record label instead. And the delay in doing so has resulted in the music of the film not releasing despite there being just a fortnight to the film's release.
T-Series issued a statement on Tuesday that read: "Viacom 18 represented to us that they own all the rights for the said film including its music rights free of any encumbrances. And based on their representation, warranties and indemnities, we acquired the said music rights from Viacom 18 solely based on their express representations with a clear understanding that they will share the link agreements with authors and composers to complete the chain of title. Viacom 18 has assigned these rights to us and have further indemnified us against any claims or losses and thus the onus of providing a clear chain of title lies with Viacom 18. We fail to understand why we are being brought into this mess between the right holder (Viacom 18) and the producer (Mr Abhay Deol)."
Singer Sona Mohapatra and her husband Ram Sampath have in the past, been vocal about how composers are often short-changed in their creative process. Sona says, "The law of the land, especially after the Copyright Act (Amendments) Bill 2012, states clearly that composers and writers need to be acknowledged as the first owners of a creative work and have the right to royalty and residuals. The music labels continue to flaunt this in different ways to ensure they control the business and the creative community."
T-Series however is clear that the company has followed all legal precautions in matters pertaining to One By Two. "None of our agreements are against the law (as is being painted in the media). They in fact have been adopted by us after exercising due diligence and obtaining expert legal advice, and are perfectly in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act, 1957 and the same cannot be said to be illegal in any manner whatsoever."
Music composer Amit Trivedi feels that some music labels up the pressure ahead of a film's release to seize the creative rights that should duly and legally remain with the artists. He adds, "Music labels resort to arm-twisting tactics just before the release of music and the film and hold the producer and composer ransom. This practice must be stopped and that can only happen if we all (producers, singers, writers and composers) stand united in this fight."