'It is a chance to regulate royalty fee collection'

CHENNAI: After slamming Ilaiyaraja's attempt to demand

royalty

for his compositions from

S P Balasubrahmanyam

, the maestro's brother Gangai Amaran softened the blow by placing the blame on Ilaiyaraaja's lawyers on Monday. Gangai Amaran, a music director himself, termed the attempt foolish but changed his stance later in the day during an interview with a TV channel.

Film personalities,

Carnatic

exponents and music critics, however, see the controversy as an opportunity to set right the unregulated system of royalty fee collection.

Lyricist Madhan Karky stated that Ilaiyaraaja was in the clear legally but felt that the matter could have been settled through a phone call. “ A song is owned by the composer, the lyricist and the producer.

Indian Performing Right Society

(IPRS) ensures that they are compensated when the song is used for commercial purpose.“

Carnatic singers accuse the IPRS of being ineffective in payment of royalty .

South Indian Music Companies Association

president and Carnatic singer composer Sudha Raghunathan said, “In the last five years, I have not received royalty for the sale of my music from IPRS. It cannot be possible that even a single copy did not sell. The procedures are unclear and there are no standards to follow.“

Music critic and writer S Rajendra Babu said, “There can be many arguments in this debate. If you look at music as a team work, Ilaiyaraaja cannot claim it to himself because in that case all the people involved in the music start claiming their right over the songs.The sound engineer, conductor, singer and other artistes can raise a claim. It is considered that ownership is with the producer because he pays all these people and buys the song for the movie.“