Editorial

Dear friends,

This issue of Khanak comes with all its regular bells and whistles, i.e., Creative Corner, Stories from the Industry, Interview of the Month, Expert’s Pick, and FAQs. But I’m most excited about my dream come true – The IPRS Learn And Earn Multicity Workshop Program.

In today’s creator-driven economy, we, the music makers, hold an extraordinary place. But, of course, music has always been an essential part of human civilization (probably since the time we weren’t even civilized). Still, with the changing digital revolution and democratization of the industry, we are seeing the power of individual creation like never before in human history.

To channel this content surge and empower our members, we embarked upon this beautiful journey called ‘Learn & Earn.’ This multi-city workshop series kicked off in Chennai. Next was Hyderabad, and recently we took it to Kolkata. Members of all three cities showered us with love and praise, and the media overwhelmingly appreciated our efforts. We now plan to take this workshop to Ludhiyana and Delhi before bringing it to my home ground: Mumbai.

#Learn&Earn is an extensive full-day workshop – an intense dive into the sea of information and knowledge like never before. We kickstart the workshop with the first session by industry veteran Shri Atul Churamani Sir, who explains the different rights creators enjoy under the copyright law. In the second session, I speak about how IPRS functions, the growth, and the challenges we face in various sectors. In the third session, our CIO, Shri Surhit Bhattacharya, describes how to use our Member Portal effectively. Then we have a session on how YouTube royalties work. Finally, there’s a session and a demo-Kiosk by DOLBY about the evolution of music and another great session for indie musicians by Tunecore – both very entertaining and enlightening. For active participation, free Apple Music subscriptions for a year are given to 10 members in each city! And yes, members love the whole day of learning and earning!

As I already said, I’m super excited about these workshops because since I joined IPRS Board, my thrust has been towards Member Improvement Programs. We started with #CreativeShala and organized so many Seminars and workshops over the last three years. But Learn & Earn is a massive step in member engagement and welfare. As our knowledge partners Dolby and Tunecore acknowledged during the sessions in Kolkata, the new IPRS is doing an exemplary job in serving its members with complete transparency and efficiency. All the credit for this goes to IPRS staff and our CEO Shri Rakesh Nigam. I’m proud to say that the amount of information and knowledge our members have had access to, despite the pandemic, is unprecedented in the history of the Indian entertainment industry.

In a sad turn of events, we lost senior lyricist Maya Govind Ji earlier this year. We remember her with all our hearts.

In another tragic turn of events, we lost one of the most beautiful voices in the world, our friend and gifted singer KK. His untimely departure is a colossal loss to the music industry. He leaves behind a gaping hole that will not be filled quickly. I have fond memories of KK in the studio from the first film I worked on. He was a default choice for Pritam and me for almost every song we did together. Whoever sang the song didn’t matter. In our heads, we could always hear the music in KK’s bright, crystal clear voice. Rest in Bliss, KK! We’ll always miss you!

Mayur Puri.
June, 2022.