Anup Jalota, Shaan, Sonu Nigam and Sanjay Tandon shed light on the formation of 'ISRA' and 'ISAMARA' along with the struggle from 1990 to 2023:

Singer Kavita Krishnamurthy remembers Lata Mangeshkar on the formation of 'Isamara'

The historic initiative taken on the 12th foundation day of 'ISRA': Now musicians will also get royalty: 'ISRA' expanded, became 'ISAMRA':

211 singers of 'Isra' together sang a soldier's song

About thirteen years ago, on the initiative of the vocal nightingale Lata Mangeshkar, in 1990, Sanjay Andan, Anoop Jalota, Shaan, Sonu Nigam, Shailendra, and others started a struggle to protect the interests of Bollywood singers and to provide them royalty for their work. As a result of 22 years of struggle, the Government of India gave this right to the singers by amending the Copyright Act on 21 June 2012. And the government had also refused to consider the singer a 'vocal instrument'.

Indian Singers Rights Association (ISRA) was established 10 years ago under the leadership and chairpersonship of vocal nightingale Lata Mangeshkar. It is noteworthy that Lata Mangeshkar has worked with Asha Bhosle, Alka Yagnik, Sonu Nigam, Sanjay Tandon, Usha Mangeshkar, Suresh Wadkar, Pankaj Udhas, Anoop Jalota, Talat Aziz, Kumar Sanu, Abhijeet Bhattacharya, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Shaan, Hariharan, Jassi, Sunidhi Chauhan., along with celebrities like Mahalakshmi Iyer, founded ISRA so that they can give all the singers their rights in the form of royalty.

It was registered under Section 8 of the Companies Act 1956 as a non-profit organization. And it became a registered copyright society on 12 June 2011 and its first general body meeting was held on 5 September 2013. In October 2013, 'ISRA' had its own foundation, and then a campaign was started to make all the singers its members. Due to Isra's efforts, she got her first royalty of Rs 1 lakh from Rediff in May 2014 for the song 'Lag Ja Gale…'.

Now ten years after its inception, 'ISRA' has transformed itself into 'The Indian Singers and Musicians Rights Association (ISAMRA)' by including musicians as well. Under which now the royalty rights of musicians have also been given importance. On this occasion, the AGM of ‘Isamra’ was held on 23 November 2023 at Raheja Classic Club, Mumbai, where more than 100 singers and other celebrities participated. To celebrate this, Anup Jalota, Sanjay Tandon, Sonu Nigam, Suresh Wadkar, Shailendra Singh, Alka Yagnik, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Shaan, Kumar Sanu, Udit Narayan, Hariharan, Sunidhi Chauhan, Shankar Mahadevan, Shahid Rafi, Amit Kumar, Sumit Kumar, Meet Brothers, Nitin Mukesh, Sudesh Bhosle, Jaspinder Narula, Mahalakshmi Iyer, Saumya Rao, Aditi Singh Sharma, Shahid Mallya, Roopkumar Rathod, Usha Timothy from across Mumbai gathered at Raheja Classic.

It is noteworthy that 'ISRA won two cases in the Delhi High Court on this issue in the month of October 2016 and 2022 regarding the right of the performers to receive a royalty. After this, ISRA signed a historic agreement with all the music labels on 22 April 2023. After this treaty, a long legal battle regarding paying royalty to the singers ended. Honourable Union Personnel and Trade Minister Piyush Goyal contributed to this. On 22 April 2023, 'ISRA' expressed happiness over a historic achievement of collecting royalty of Rs 50 crore.

Now the latest news is that all the musicians will also receive a royalty from 'Isamara'. To give concrete shape to this effort, 'ISRA' has been renamed as 'ISAMRA' (Indian Singers and Musicians' Rights Association). ‘Isamara’ represents singers and musicians not only of India but of the entire world. On the basis of its mutual relations, the organization controls 95% of the performers (singers), and as members of this organization, people from all parts of the country, East, West, North, and South are associated. It is noteworthy that 'Isamra' has also made agreements with 17 foreign organizations including America, England, Canada, South Africa, Japan, Netherlands, Brazil, Russia, Sweden, UK, and Poland, and has collected royalty of Rs 43 lakh from foreign countries.

Founder President of ISRA and Bharat Ratna awarded singer Lata Mangeshkar had once said, “I am very happy that the issue I had raised is now bearing fruit. Singers are now getting their royalty rights. Congratulations and thanks ISRA.'' It is noteworthy that ISRA's advisory board includes personalities like Hariharan, Anuradha Paudwal, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Shantanu Mukherjee, Udit Narayan, Nagur Babu, Sudesh Bhosle, Kailash Kher and Mahalakshmi Iyer. Its board of directors includes Asha Bhosle (Honourable Chairman), Anoop Jalota (Chairman), Sonu Nigam, Talat Aziz, Suresh Wadkar, Alka Yagnik, Pankaj Udas, Kumar Sanu, Shailendra Singh, Jaspinder Narula, K. Yes. Veteran personalities like Ranjeet and Sanjay Tandon are included.

ISRA President Anup Jalota says, “I am very happy that ISRA has now transformed into ISMARA and now musicians have also been included in it. I am happy to know that now musicians will get royalty through Isamara. This is a historic event.”

While Sonu Nigam said, “This is a very big and concrete step for Indian singers and people associated with music. It has been a very long journey. Due to ISMARA, all the artists of the past, present, and future will be able to get royalty, just like foreign artists get royalty. Finally, the dream that has been dreamed of for a long time is now going to come true.

On this occasion, ISRA Co-Founder and CEO Sanjay Tandon said, 'There can be no better good news than this on the occasion of ISRA's 10th anniversary! After securing the rights of the singers, ISRA signed a historic agreement with many music labels this year and now many musicians are also going to benefit from it. I feel extremely happy to be a witness to this historic moment. There is still more work to be done. But I am happy that Lata Ji's dream is finally coming true.

Remembering Lata Mangeshkar on this occasion, singer Kavita Krishnamurthy said – “Today we are missing Lata ji a lot. She was not only a great singer but also a visionary person. It was she who dreamed of singers getting royalty. And efforts for this were started. It was due to his efforts that the government woke up. Wherever Lata Ji is today, she will be happy with how her dream is coming to fruition.

Shaan said- “Now with the formation of ‘Isamara’ every person got associated with it. It would not occur to any person working in the world of music that he has been kept separate. Be it related to film songs or the composition of non-film songs. Be it any language of the country. Now all the singers and musicians have got strength.

- Shantiswarup Tripathi