Dear IPRS Member,
India has 2% of the total landmass of our entire planet and 50% of all active COVID-19 cases, as I write this. Let that sink in.
There is no denying that this is the biggest crisis we have ever faced. People are popping off like flies on a peak summer day. Everyone I know personally has lost someone. From our community we have lost quite a few members including luminaries like Shravan Rathod (of Nadeem-Shravan),Wajidbhai (of Sajid-Wajid), S.P. Balasubramaniam, Yogesh Gaur, Anwar Sagar, Rahat Indori, Vijay Patil and Vanraj Bhatiya Sir. All of them will be missed dearly and their music will live on. A link to our tribute session on Vanraj sir is given in a summary piece within this newsletter. Please click on the link, watch it, circulate it widely and comment on our youtube channel.
The loss of loved ones can never be computed, of course. But in these times, it is difficult to even compute the financial losses of small entrepreneurs like us. The silver lining, if any, is that there are people who care for others in the right places and they are doing the best they can. While the office-bearers of IPRS are working day and night for collection and distribution of royalties, I’m proud to say that our directors like Devraj Sanyal (Universal Music) have been relentlessly working to help out the community at large with arranging for Oxygen and ICU beds for the needy.
“Toot hi jayega aakhir, guroor is toofaan ka,
Ye faqat hai ek zariya, apnon ki pehchaan ka.”
This newsletter is also a small step in that direction. To let you know that you aren’t alone. IPRS is your own and will stand by you. When I had first dreamt of this newsletter, I had rainbow goggles on my eyes. I thought it will be a momentous and celebratory occasion when we begin this journey. Today, as I write this first editorial for our newsletter, I cannot be tone-deaf to what is happening around us, and my mood is far from celebratory. But it becomes all the more imperative to look for silver linings through the dark clouds. I’m no medical expert, but my family doctor insists that laughter and bonding with family, friends, fans, and loved ones increases your immunity exponentially. So, we have included an excellent write-up on dealing with mental health issues and positivity for artists during these times with this intention. The article has excellent tips, and I hope you will make the most of it.
For this special inaugural issue, we have also been blessed with immunity booster doses in the shape of beautiful poems by Shri Sameer Saab, Shri Irshad Kamil bhai and Mohtarama Kausar Munir. Sameer saab tells us about the pervading silences that have become a part of our lives in his recent nazm – ‘Sannatta’. Watch out for the sucker punch in the last line of this beautiful poem. It will hit you hard! In his outstanding work, ‘Ikkees Din Lambi Kavita’, Irshadbhai paints a poignant picture of our times. His word-brush paints the scene with different strokes of shock, wonder, sarcasm, hope, and philosophy (or ‘feel-o-sophy’ as he likes to call it). On the other hand, Kausar writes ‘Ikkattha’ with a kind of warm glow that only a super-inclusive, super-evolved person like her can manage to achieve. Her poem is like a soft, warm hug that we all need in these times. I have included my own ‘Sarhad Ghar Tak Aa Gayi Hai,’ which I hope you all will be kind enough to read and react on.
The idea behind this newsletter was that we should have an open and consistent dialogue with all our members. We are a community, and we should come together to fight all our common causes. I believe that within this community, there are no personal issues. Every issue is a collective issue, and we should address it together. If a new member is not able to register their works, it’s our problem. If a legal heir is having issues of representation – it’s our problem. If a senior member is skeptical about the royalty distribution, it’s our problem. I don’t differentiate between author, composer, or publisher members, and none of us should do that. Because we are far stronger together, and honestly, none of our issues are totally isolated. I’m borrowing this sentiment from the letter of our visionary chairman Shri Javed Akhtar Saab, written especially for this inaugural issue. What a delightful read it is! Under his guidance, in just a couple of years and despite these trying times, IPRS has shape-shifted into this wonderful, pragmatic, and ever-energized outfit that constantly works for its members. I hope Javedsaab will keep sharing his thoughts with us through this newsletter frequently.
Friends, before having a chair in the IPRS board room, I always thought there’s a pulviscular cloud in the hallowed halls of IPRS, and if you feel so too, I totally understand the sentiment. One reason to start this newsletter was to dissipate this cloud and make everyone see clearly what is happening, regularly. We bring an exclusive interview with our CEO Shri Rakesh Nigam Ji, as a concrete step in this direction. Rakeshji has answered a few burning questions of the time very frankly, and in great detail. If you want to know more about our business, you cannot miss it. In this series, we will bring you more interviews from IPRS administration, membership, distribution, and other departments, so that you are more and more clued on with the day-to-day working of IPRS.
Apart from all this, we have top stories from the industry, Covid Helpline numbers, highlights from the panel discussion on Healthy Ecosystem in Music Industry in India, and all the essential contact details and vital information for the members. Please make good use of these resources and be assured of prompt response from our staff as always. At the risk of being indulgent, I must take another minute of your time and let you know that the IPRS staff has worked in an exemplary fashion during the last two years. They have taken substantial pay cuts during the pandemic because they are all driven by our cause. Surhit Bhattacharya sir, our Chief Information Officer, is busy creating our member portal. Manish Jani, tirelessly works for every distribution. Rumpa Banerjee handles memberships so efficiently, and without her my initiatives like #CreativeShala or even this newsletter could not have been possible.
With a lot of pride and humility, I now open this channel of dialogue with you, my friends. Write back to us, comment on how we are doing, share your views on everything. Suggest, guide, implore us in whatever direction you want to. I promise you’ll not find a more democratic, transparent, and visionary chairperson than Javed Saab or a more hardworking and pragmatic CEO than Rakesh Nigam Ji.
In the next issue of this newsletter, we will bring you:
– a super insightful interview with the game-changing CEO of SaReGaMa – Shri Vikram Mehra
-a fantastic write-up by the film historian Manek Premchand
-a write up on the surge of regional music
We will also tell you all about having our newest publisher member, one of the biggest music labels globally, T-Series, on board with us.
I believe in creating art that is both meaningful and marketable. So here we go, trying to bring some ‘Khanak’ into your lives. Hoping that the musical ‘Khanak’ of your works will translate into the ‘Khanak’ of coins dropping into your piggy banks. That’s the only way music-makers can expect a respectable life and a secured future. Let’s kick off a new era in the history of IPRS by taking it to new levels of openness, transparency, and productivity. Let’s make it what it was always supposed to be – the definitive house of resources (both monetary and informative) for all direct stakeholders in the Indian music industry. Onwards to glory!
Mayur Puri.
