If you can't beat them, join them — the fight against piracy proving futile, music producers have decided to work shoulder to shoulder with copyright violators. A sign of this reconciliation is ‘Cell Muzik — Bank of Music', which will legalise the huge business of downloading music to mobile handsets.
At present, mobile outlets ‘sell' music copied from CDs and lifted from the Internet, without any authorisation. Cell Muzik will let these retail outlets continue doing what they do, provided they acquire licences — which come at a cost of Rs.15,000 to Rs. 24,000 per annum. Cellphone retail stores that continue to transfer music to customers' chips without acquiring the licence will court legal action. A wing — headed by retired police officer Madhavraj — has been established for this purpose.
Brainchild of South India Digital Music Management (SIDMM), Cell Muzik consists of 60 per cent of the songs in Tamil and Malayalam in the genres of film, devotional, folk and classical music.
At the launch of this unique initiative, Carnatic musician Sudha Raghunathan, president of the South India Music Companies Association, pointed out that downloading music has largely been an illegal activity and that the phrase “legally downloadable” is a gift from Cell Muzik to the South Indian music industry.
Carnatic singer Unnikrishnan narrated how young musicians are in the wilderness for want of producers who would fund their efforts at creating albums. He and Sudha were fortunate to have made albums when piracy was not rampant and copyright violators did not have sophisticated technology, which makes stealing music the easiest job on earth. Cell Muzik will be an encouragement for music producers to patronise young talent.
Music director Dhina and lyricist Viveka explained how the fruits of labour seldom reached music producers and lauded this novel effort to reverse the trend.
For details about Cell Muzik, call 08754440560/ 45022358.
