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The debate over who should rightfully receive the royalties for musical works, particularly in the film industry, has been ongoing for decades. From the Lata Mangeshkar-Raj Kapoor face-off to Ilaiyaraaja's numerous legal battles against those using his compositions without permission, tinseltown has seen several such instances. Playback singer Krishna Beuraa recently opened up about his professional life and shared how “distribution companies” often draft deals that leave singers like him with almost no royalty, even if their song attract crores of listeners on online platforms.
Alleging that artistes are often paid based on the number of followers they have on social media rather than their talent, Krishna shared that this business model is flawed, as labels are forced to spend more money on marketing in addition to the artiste’s remuneration. “Some distribution companies give certain A-listers Rs 100-200 crore in revenue to produce songs for them, although they aren’t capable. On the contrary, when artistes like me even start talking about releasing a song, they come with a 70:30 revenue-sharing agreement. They demand 70 per cent of the revenue and leave me with just 30 per cent, although I made the song and the music video, and I’m approaching them only to release it. They aren’t even paying me to take my song, and yet, they still demand to keep 70 per cent of the profit,” he stated during a conversation with Siddharth Kannan.
Krishna Beuraa also alleged that once the song is given to a distribution company for release, artistes aren’t allowed to even sing that track anywhere without permission. “If you are releasing my song, then why am I not allowed to sing it anymore? Why are you giving a copyright strike on that? You didn’t pay me when you bought my song, nor did you promote it properly. At the very least, let me sing two lines from that song in interviews or on other platforms so that people get to know about it. I can’t even sing my song from Indian Chak here now if I wanted to,” he stated.
Mentioning that he can’t even make cover versions of his own songs, Krishna shared that at least 500 unknown people have, however, done this. “My song ‘Mera Intkam Dekhegi’ (from Marriage Mein Zaroor Aana) has at least 100 crore views on YouTube. If you consider other platforms as well, the total will be much higher. Yet, I didn’t earn even Re 1 for it. Neither did the producer of the movie pay me, nor did I receive any royalties for it,” he stated. He also maintained that only A-listers get stage shows frequently. “If you are an A-lister, people will pay you even Rs 1 crore for one show. But if you aren’t, the organisers will think at least 10 times before calling you for Rs 15-20 lakh,” he revealed, adding that event management companies then take a share of the money by claiming the budget is Rs 5 lakh and pocketing the remaining Rs 10 lakh.
Revealing that he didn’t receive even a penny for “Mera Intkam Dekhegi,” arguably the biggest hit of his career, Krishna Beuraa explained that although he could have asked for payment, it’s uncertain whether he would have actually received it, as people typically don’t initiate payment unless prompted.
“Singers are scared that if they ask for money, their voices will be erased. While the song they already recorded may get used, it’s likely that they will never be called again. Therefore, we must always remain polite. Yes, there are some people who pay us correctly. I was paid Rs 10,000 by YRF for my song in Chak De India. Although Salim Merchant (of the Salim–Sulaiman duo who composed the movie’s music) paid me Rs 25,000 for singing the song in a different scale to be used in another portion of the movie, I returned the money as a token of gratitude. In total, I must have earned Rs 1.5 lakh from all the songs I sang for movies,” he stated.
