For Puri, the larger concern is that the licensing business uses the work of creators without giving them their financial due. “They (the music label) can do whatever the hell they want with it without actually paying the original creators,” said Puri. “It’s not a problem, legally speaking. We can’t do anything about it. But ethically there’s a problem, right? Especially the writers, composers, and artists, people who created the older songs, they feel cheated.”
When it comes to remixes, the legality and process of distributing royalties are more complicated. “Consider the 2018 song “Dilbar” from Satyameva Jayate (2018),” said Puri. “Now the original song was Sameer (Sameer Anjaan) saab’s song from Sirf Tum (1999). It has been re-done by Tanishk Bagchi for this new film. Originally it was Nadeem-Shravan’s composition. The rights are with T-Series. Now when it is remixed, the new people who have added things to the original song — Shabbir Ahmed and Ikka have written extra lyrics, and Bagchi has added some new beats — will also get a share of the pie.”
In terms of the distribution of royalties, the label gets 50% of the royalties, and the other half is divided equally between the composer and the lyricist. “The rights of the old song remain the same but for the new song the royalty gets equitably distributed between all the creators,” said Puri. “Nadeem-Shravan and Tanishk Bagchi will get 25%, so that’s 12.5%-12.5% for them. And even with the lyrics, Sameer saab will get 12.5% and Shabbir Ahmed and Ikka will get 12.5%.” Puri’s contention is that the original creators deserve a greater percentage than those who opt to “piggyback on the success of the old one” by remixing it.