Amid the controversy over music copyrights sparked by Tanishk Bagchi’s allegations over the title song of Saiyaara, composer and singer Amaal Malik shared a mysterious post on social media that many believe is indicative of a larger issue.
Although he did not mention Tanishq or the film, Amaal noted that the industry is only now acknowledging a problem he says he highlighted years ago.Sharing a selfie with a brief note, Amal wrote: “People in the music industry are waking up 10 years too late. Where were you in 2015 when I was fighting the system alone :).”His statements come at a time when talks over royalty payments have resurfaced following Tanishk Bagchi’s claim that he is yet to receive INR 8 lakh from the royalties of Saiyaara’s title song. Yash Raj Films has since denied any wrongdoing, stating that royalties were distributed equally among the three song composers according to their contracts and that all collaborators were paid as agreed upon.Amal has been vocal about the financial challenges that composers and songwriters face despite the commercial success of their music. Earlier this year, in March, he spoke at length about how India’s royalty system continues to leave creators with only a small share of the revenue generated from their work.“There is a royalty system being implemented from 2020. Javed Akhtar Sahab has fought hard for this. The actor feels that if he stands in a song then the song will be a hit.
This is only 50% true. The remaining 50% credit goes to the songwriter, music composer, director and then finally comes to the singer. Singers are important, but they are not the creators of the song. These four pillars of sound need song rights. He said: “Music producers do not have the rights to their songs, but in the West this category also has rights to the song.”To illustrate his point, Amaal referred to his hit song “Sooraj Dooba Hai” from the 2015 film Roy, starring Ranbir Kapoor, explaining how little the creators ultimately earned compared to the long-term commercial value of the song.“As an Indian system, we are far behind the West. Because
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She has major royalties, can buy back the album and release it her own way. Like the Sooraj Dooba Hai song, she got Rs 8 lakh and gave everything for it. I had to run my house and write this song. It would have taken a maximum of Rs 10 lakh. “The song was produced for Rs 8-10 lakh,” he said.He also claimed that while the song has continued to generate huge revenues over the years, the creators have not benefited proportionately.“My understanding is that on an average in the last 12 years, a song has grossed Rs 65 crore, and I checked this 7 years ago. Now, it would have grossed Rs 100 crore. Now, a song that was made for Rs 10 crore got Rs 100 crore and what they were going to give us is Rs 15-20 lakh. This includes everything – engineer, venue, food – everything, but not the property,” he added.Amal also explained how production costs led to a significant decline in his profits from the project.
“I pay my team this amount. After paying for everything, I get a salary of Rs 75,000 to Rs 1.5 lakh after doing one song,” he said.The renewed discussion comes after Tanishk Bagchi claimed that INR 8 lakh from the royalties of the title song Saiyaara remained unpaid. In response, Yash Raj Films confirmed that all financial obligations have been met.“The theme song for Saiyaara was a beautiful collaboration between three composers (Tanishk Bagchi along with Faheem Abdullah and Arsalan Nizami). We are extremely grateful for their brilliance in creating a timeless song that has touched a million hearts. The royalties for the theme song have been shared and YRF will continue to share it equally between the three composers as contractually agreed by everyone, including Tanishk.”
“YRF has paid each collaborator their dues, in accordance with the contract, all within mutually agreed upon terms and time,” a YRF spokesperson said.