Know special things about Shailendra Singh on his birthday

Singers should also get royalty, this voice was raised in 1990 by the late Lata Mangeshkar, famous as Bharat Kokila. Singer and actor Shailendra Singh was the first to stand in support of her voice. Due to this fight in 2012, the Central Government amended the Constitution and cleared the way for singers to get royalties. Still, despite the provision of royalty in the Constitution, no singer could get a royalty. Apart from music companies, the hotel industry and other consumers refused to give royalties to the singer. Then singers like Lata Mangeshkar, Sanjay Tandon, Sonu Nigam, and Alka Yagnik started the fight afresh. 'Indian Singers Rights Association' (ISRA) was formed. ISRA's struggle bore fruit. On 23 April 2023, a historic signing took place between the "Indian Music Association" (IMI) and 'ISRA' on the formula for giving royalty to the singers. So now every singer will get a royalty from April 2022. We spoke to singer Shailendra Singh, one of the board of directors of 'ISRA'.

Shailendra Singh: Singer, Actor, and Champion for Royalty

Born and brought up in Mumbai, Shailendra Singh wanted to become an actor, so he took acting training from 'Pune Film Institute'. He has also learned classical music. But he first got recognition as a singer in 1972 by singing 'Main Shaayar To Nahin' in Raj Kapoor's film 'Bobby'. Along with the film, this song composed by Shailendra Singh also became popular. Shailendra Singh sang three songs including 'Jhooth Bole..' with Lata Mangeshkar for the film 'Bobby'. After that, he became known as a singer. The song 'Tumko Dekha' composed by him from the film 'Khel Khel Mein' created a stir at the national level. He sang the song 'Jaane Do Na' from the film 'Sagar' with Asha Bhosle. But he was obsessed with becoming an actor. So he acted in 'Do Jasoos' in 1975. Then he acted in unsuccessful films like the Bengali film 'Ajsara Dhanyavad', and the Hindi film 'Gini Va Jani'. In 1980, Shailendra Singh acted in the film 'Agreement' with Rekha, but this film was also a failure. After that, he continued to sing as a singer and had tremendous success. He continued to sing successful songs till 1993. His career came to a halt after an illness in 1994. In 2008, he sang the song 'Jai Ho Chhathi Maiya' in the film "Bhole Shankar". But he has been fighting for the rights of singers by joining 'IPR S' and 'ISRA'. Now he is happy with the historic agreement of royalty.

The brief conversation with Shailendra Singh was as follows...

You must be happy with the historic agreement with music companies on the issue of royalties.

See, we were fighting for our rights for so many years. Which has now been successful. Obviously, we are very happy. The best thing is that the music labels i.e. the music companies are also happy. In between we were having a little rift with them. Meaning that both of us were not able to agree with each other's issues. But finally, it became possible after the mediation of Union Minister Piyush Goyal. Due to the support and guidance of Piyush Goyal ji, all the obstacles were removed and now a historic agreement has been reached between 'ISRA' and 'IMI'. So this is a happy day for all of us singers. It is a historic day. Our struggle was successful. On my behalf, I thank all the music labels, Sanjay Tandon and Piyush Goyal ji. Sanjay Tandon worked very hard to resolve this issue.

Would this historic agreement have been possible without the mutual understanding between the singers and the music labels?

You are absolutely right. Without mutual cooperation and mutual understanding, no agreement is possible. Let me make it clear that we had differences with the music labels, but there was no animosity. When we sat at the table for talks, both sides took full care of each other's respect. Look, Piyush Goyal ji's guidance was there, but all the talks were basically between the music labels and the singers.

Should it be considered that this is truly a historic day for those singers who could not achieve much in the field of struggle and singing?

Yes! We have made a special provision for such singers. We are keeping some funds separately as welfare funds, it is only for such singers. If someone needs help during illness or any other kind of trouble, we will provide that too. Old singers like Shamshad Begum did not have money. At that time, singers used to get very little remuneration. Keeping that in mind, we are keeping a part of the royalty coming to 'Isra' separately as a 'welfare fund'. I am one of the board of directors of 'Isra', so I know about this.

Recently Piyush Goyal Ji said that the music labels demanded that the music companies get a share of the money that every singer earns by doing music concert shows after the promotion of his/her song.. Does every singer actually earn by doing music shows?

This is baseless. I do not agree with this. Piyush Goyal ji also did not agree. Not every artist does musical shows. Not every artist gets so many shows. What will the singer do? He will do two shows and give that amount to the music label. This issue itself was wrong. We did not agree with this. Eventually, the music labels also understood that they were talking wrong.

From the way discussions are going on, it seems that the conflict is still not completely over. Will it not be easy to collect royalty from many industries including the hotel industry?

You will get it... but you will still have to work hard.

IPRS has been operational for a long time. What was its benefit?

See, I am also a member of IPRS. The scope of IPRS is different. It has lyricists, publishers, screenplay and story writers, etc. There is nothing for singers in this organization. I am a member of both.

-Old Interview

Read also:

• Pawan Kalyan & Sai Dharam Tej's 'Bro' Premieres on Zee Anmol Cinema
  
• I really wish I had gotten a fair chance for tickets: Poulomi Das
• Amitabh Bachchan Reflects on Changing Movie Habits on KBC 16
• Charul Malik: TV hasn't changed; we have changed