MUMBAI: Veteran playback singer Kumar Sanu is confident that musicians and artists will soon be able to reap the rewards thanks to the Copyright Bill (Amendment) passed in 2012. Payback for artists should materialise by 2014, when the music industry absorbs and adjusts to the game-changing decree passed by the Parliament, the singer said.
Sanu, who was a rage in the nineties with hits like ‘Ab Tere Bin’ (Aashiqui), ‘Ek Ladki Ko Dekha’ (1942: A Love Story) and ‘Tujhe Dekha To’ (Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge) was amongst the many artists who fought for a share of royalty, which was scooped up largely by film producers.
Expressing his confidence in the long-term positive impact of the Bill, Sanu told Radioandmusic.com that the music industry’s artists could expect to get ‘something’ for their contribution to making music for Bollywood and independently. Songs from the country’s Hindi film industry or Bollywood dominate the domestic market worth Rs 670 crores sans royalties, which has eluded attempts to quantify.
“The Copyrights Act will now protect us and we will get our rightful share. Earlier, we use to get nothing but now we can expect something (for our work). We are on the right track now and artists like Javed Akhtar and Lata Mangheskar have helped a lot in making it happen. I can’t say that we will reap the benefits this year, but we can expect it from 2014,” Sanu said.
Popular songs also get airplay in foreign radio stations widening scope for generating royalties for everyone involved.
The biggest challenge the music industry faces now is determining the exact size of the royalties market for the music. Lack of structure, ignorance, piracy and business chicanery has thwarted any attempts to put a figure on the revenue potential of royalties.
According to Industry experts, the royalty market for Indian music can be anywhere from Rs 500 crores to Rs 5,000 crores depending on who is collecting the royalties, the kind of deals that are struck and how well the music is marketed.
But for many artists like Sanu, the fact that they will get their share in the future without being at the mercy of producers is a good reason to cheer. While musicians like Sanu have their plates full with 60 films in hand, a reality show and numerous live dates, the Bill’s enactment will be vital in protecting the interests of upcoming talent and encouraging them to join the industry.
He added, “It’s difficult to calculate the potential of the royalties that can be generated but Indian music has gone global – it’s being played all over the world now, so the scope is immense. With the passing of the Bill, producers will have to agree. The deals that use to happen were not correct, now artists will be protected.”