While the spotlight’s on stage, there’s a quieter battle playing out behind closed doors—one about ownership, authorship, and overdue credit. For the first time in decades, India’s music creators are organizing with real muscle.
A new memorandum of understanding between lyricists and composers marks a historic shift. It mandates proper credits, fair remuneration, and enforces royalty-sharing in contracts that once left creators with little more than a handshake and a thank-you scroll. The Indian Performing Right Society (IPRS) isn’t just collecting fees anymore—it’s educating artists on their rights, one city at a time.
In Bangalore, the “My Music My Rights” initiative is gathering momentum. Workshops are filling up. Copyright literacy is rising. Songwriters who once thought “royalties” were a foreign concept are now showing up to meetings with lawyers, not just lyric sheets.
This isn’t a glamorous fight. But it’s a necessary one. And for India’s music industry to grow sustainably, it might be the most important soundtrack playing right now.
