Vinod Yesudas with his father KG Yesudas and mother
There is a looming controversy over the music royalty Issue in India. It started when Vinod Yesudas, son of KJ Yesudas prevented singers like Unni Menon and Madhu Balakrishnan from using songs that Tharangini produced – that’s according to the news. According to Vinod Yesudas, he says he only wanted to spread awareness, and never wanted to prevent anyone from using the songs.
In my opinion, a great number of music listeners are ignorant of how the music royalty works. Let me bring some light on these issues.
There is a great amount of work and people’s talent goes into making a music album that you buy from a store. There are singers and musicians – who play instruments, are normally get highlighted at the front of CD case. Are they the only people we should give credit for the work?
We normally buy albums looking at the singers, but there are many other people who make an album great. The motivation behind a great song are song writers, music composers and producers. We are inclined to the “tune” or “music” of a song in an album naturally – however the “life” for a song starts when a song writer – he can be a music composer too, pens down the idea. Often we forget to give any kind of credit to the song writers or music composers. I have felt Yesudas has given a great respect for the song writers and music composers when he is in the public. This does not happen on all the musical programs in TV channels or stage shows. The various music programs that you see on TV, you will rarely see any mention of the song writers or music composers. The same kind of credit goes to their daily living also. They are rarely paid their wages, but the TV channels get their subscription fee. This is where the royalty is a necessity to sustain song writers and composers.
We have a great pool of people to make a great album, and these talents are made real when a producer spends money to produce it. He pays for the studio, pays the musicians, singers, and he is the investor. Without a producer, a film or a music album is impossible to produce. A producing company like Tharangini has the primary motive to get profit out of their venture. Tharangini is also a publishing company who manages the songs they produce. It is their right to ask anyone, the usage of their songs. This is only what Vinod Yesudas did, and I don’t see any wrong with that.
It takes only some common sense to understand that when a producer fails in a venture, he will never invest again in a music production. The directors of a movie takes extreme caution to make a profit for the producer, however this trend has not seen in the music Industry in India. The day after an album is produced; a producer has to find a distributor to distribute the music to general public. The piracy, illegal distributing of music over the net has killed the sales of albums. This has wiped out money investing producers from the market.
The trend that followed in the music Industry in India is the singers receive their fee, and don’t take any risk in the selling of the album. This is called “work on hire”. To change this trend to a royalty based business needs a lot of changes. First of all, the singers need to be popular, the singer need to be signed with a company for some years – these kinds of policies a singer may not accept because he wants more freedom in selling his talents. There may be no singer who may be willing to come to a studio on their expenses and receive royalty only based on the sales of the album. So, the people who are left to receive a royalty are songwriters, producers and composers. Do they get a place a stage to sell their talent? I don’t think so but they have to make a living.
The singers, musicians and producers will get benefited by the scheme Vinod Yesudas is suggesting. This will help more producers to come forward, the songwriters to explore the new possibilities. However this needs good support from the singers, the TV channels and other entertaintment venues must start paying the royalties.
