The Hindu : Royalty not demanded: Vinod Jesudas

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 01, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Royalty not demanded: Vinod Jesudas

By Our Staff Reporter

KOCHI, MARCH 31. Vinod Jesudas, son of the noted playback singer, K. J. Jesudas, has denied reports that he had demanded royalty to be paid to him by artistes or organisers for his father's songs.

Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, Mr. Vinod, whose reported inquiries to the playback singers, Unni Menon and Madhu Balakrishnan, regarding songs to be sung at their stage programmes had triggered off a controversy about performance rights, said that he was only interested in spreading awareness about performance rights.

According to Mr. Vinod Jesudas, he had only made a formal request to Mr. Menon for a list of the songs, which would be performed in a stage show organised by Mr. Menon in Chennai. His only intention was to collect information about songs from Tharangini's catalogue sung by Mr. Jesudas. Mr. Vinod said that he had received only a rude response from Mr. Menon, instead of a professional reply to his request letter.

Mr. Vinod maintained that he was only taking steps to create awareness about the rights of the copyright holders and performers' rights. He said that the levels at which payments are currently made to lesser-known artistes are very limited compared to established artists. A royalty-based-system can enable the artistes to demand and receive their rightful share, he said.

Mr. Vinod claimed that Tharangini, as producer, publisher and distributor of Mr. Jesudas's work, has the following rights: 1). Copyright in a film song, owned by Tharangini, 2). Independent albums, owned by Tharangini, 3). Devotional albums by Mr. Jesudas, and 4). As a special right, Mr. Jesudas as a singer has a performer's right, for his performances.

He said that they were in no way against the rising of newcomers in the music industry. He said that `this will in no way affect anybody, only current artistes such as Unni Menon who choose to ignore the law and its consequences will have to abide by the Law.

Mr. Vinod denied reports that he had asked the singer, Madhu Balakrishnan, not to sing the Jesudas song, `Innale ente nenchile ...,' from the film, `Balettan,' at the Asianet award nite earlier this month. He said that he did not know why Mr. Balakrishnan had refrained from singing that song in the programme.

He admitted that Tharangini had not yet taken membership in the Indian Performers Rights Society (IPRS), a Copyright Society formulated in 1969 under the Indian Copyrights Act (1957). Tharangini had submitted an application for membership, which was being processed by the IPRS. Mr. Vinod said that they wanted to know whether taking membership in the IPRS would benefit them in any way.

Mr. Vinod argued that though the royalty was to be paid by the organisers, it was the responsibility of the singers to ensure that the licence for all the songs to be presented at a music programme was duly taken. To a question whether Vijay Jesudas, his brother and also a singer, was paying royalty for the songs other than his own, or Tharangini's own, Mr. Vinod said that he believed so.

He also requested the media's cooperation in fighting the menace of piracy in the music industry.

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