AR Rahman supports singers in the royalty war against music companies

Artists versus music companies war is still on. And the master of music, Rahman has already chosen his side

Not so long time ago, Abhay Deol was openly protesting against T-Series by sporting a black-eye at an award function. We’ve had quite a few other celebs who spoke about the music royalty tiff. Most of them supported the singers by saying that music companies ought to pay the artists a royalty amount. Now, we have AR Rahman too supporting the musicians. At a recent event for Highway, Rahman said, “I’d say that it’s a good thing that a law protecting musicians’ rights has been passed- we needed a law in favour of musicians and artists. Of course, it will be difficult for the whole system to change drastically but I think people will eventually find common ground.”

The music composer added, “Personally, it pains me to see someone who has composed great songs get so little in return for his/ her work. Often these talented people don’t even have enough money to change the curtains, or to get petrol for their car — this is unacceptable. Even if a person has composed just one song, he / she should be entitled to a royalty amount for it. It needn’t be a big sum, but it should let musicians live with some dignity.”

Having said that, Rahman was asked if he signed away his royalty when he composed the music for Highway, which is being backed by T-series. To this, AR Rahman said, “I don’t want to go into all that.”

Hmmm… Well, we wonder what will be the outcome of this music royalty tiff. Whatever it is, we just hope justice prevails and that we continue getting soothing music to our ears. To those who are unaware, T-Series has relinquished the music rights of Abhay Deol’s One By Two and Deol will be promoting the music of his film on his own.