SpicyIP Tidbit: Singers from the South in support of the singers' copyright society ISRA.

A couple of months back, I blogged about how artists were unionizing and registering copyright societies to avail of benefits guaranteed to them under the amended Copyright Act. I also wrote about the singers having sent the papers for registration of their own copyright society, namely, Indian Singers' Rights Association (ISRA). and how the industry appears to be geared up to ensure that they get the benefits they are entitled to. The post also shared an interview of Sonu Nigam from Sound Box wherein it was stated that some of the leading singers of the South such as K.J. Yesudas and S.P.Balasubramaniam had been contacted for the purposes of the singers' union.

The Hindu reported today that leading playback singers from South India such as K.J. Yesudas, S.P. Balasubramaniam, P. Susheela, Hariharan, Sujatha, Vani Jayaram, Mano among many others have come out in support of the ISRA and have stated that they would become members of the new association. The Managing Director of ISRA Sunil Tandon states that a general body meeting of ISRA is scheduled to be held on September 5 in Mumbai and that the ISRA would come up with a tariff card for the collection of royalty payments at this meeting. However, Mr. Tandon noted that there were challenges ahead for the collection of royalty payments for the singers from broadcasters and others who commercially play recorded music based on a tariff.

Once worked out, such a move would be hugely beneficial for the singers as anyone who plays commercially recorded music, from broadcasters, FM stations, mobile operators to malls, hotels and other public places would have to make royalty payments to the singers.