Rahul Vaidya hails the royalty agreement: It is great that singers will now get their dues

The recent development of royalty agreement, signed by ISRA (Indian Singers Rights Association), has paved the way for registered singers to get their dues. Elated with the much-needed decision, singer Rahul Vaidya says, “It’s great that singers will now get their dues. Many are not aware, but there’s a perception about singers being extremely self-sufficient, which is partly true. Singers make decent money from their live shows and gigs. But, that doesn’t mean that they don’t get paid for their services.”

According to the agreement, singers will now be paid 25% of the profits of music labels. Sharing how artistes used to face difficulties earlier, Vaidya adds, “Most of the time, when singers are called, money is not even a part of the conversation. People try to show the singer that they are getting a favour. There is a policy issue and that attitude also needs to be changed.”

The 35-year-old also extends his support for composers and lyricists, while standing up for his fellow singers. “Composers and lyric writers are the ones who are extremely deprived of their royalties and remain underpaid. If they don’t get royalties, how much can they sustain with that much money? There have been a lot of issues with the whole ecosystem, but I think it is changing for the good,” he stresses.

Meanwhile, another menace that has engulfed the music industry is the occurrence of frequent mishaps during live shows where fans went overboard and harmed the singers, though unintentionally. Addressing this, Vaidya says, “Such things have been happening since forever. But, thanks to the digital world, it gets conveyed and broadcast to people more easily and quickly. Some incidents, for instance the one with Arijit (Singh; singer), where a fan tried to pull his hand… it was indecent, uncalled for and unpardonable. You just cannot behave with anyone like that. It doesn’t matter how big a fan you are, it does not justify your actions.”

Asked if there needs to be more safety measures in place to ensure that such incidents don’t happen, the singer says as performers, everyone wants to experience all the love and be as close to their fans. “Such things can happen anytime. We are not politicians that we will roam around with guns in guards. There’s going to be no protocol that nobody can come 10 feet closer to us. We can’t do that because we belong to a different set of people in society. We will be close to our fans and such things will keep happening. We just need to be a bit more careful,” he ends.