MUMBAI: Indian Singers’ Rights Association (ISRA) recently held its first meeting for the singers of states Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, in Hyderabad city on August 8. In a rapid agenda to reach out to every musician in every state, this meeting is in succession of the Chennai meeting held in the month of July.

The meeting was attended by many musicians from Tollywood and singers from the state. Legendary singer S. P. Balasubrahmanyam (SPB), who is already a member of the five-year-old organisation graced the meeting. The meeting in Chennai held last month saw the presence of music maestros AR Rahman and Ilaiyaraja.

Other esteemed artists to be a part of this organisation are Bharat Ratna Lata Mangeshkar, Sonu Nigam, Abhijeet, Alka Yagnik, Anup Jalota among many others. The organisation is spearheaded by Sanjay Tandon.

At the meeting, Sanjay Tandon cleared the myth that singers demand a share of the royalty that music composers and lyricists get. ISRA works towards recovering royalties from public shows and places where the songs of the singers are played for commercial purpose.

Sanjay also presented his intentions to reach out to the singers of the State Kerala soon and urged the singers of the state to be participative in this movement.

At the meeting, SPB also shared his sentiment, saying he has been a singer for decades now but never got any royalties and this legal backing will actually help the singers to claim their rights. He also said that now singers can stall the release of the film if their payments are still due.

An organisation built to fight for rights of the singers-movies, folk music, or any other form of vocal music, ISRA came into being in 2013 and recently been making news due to its milestone achievements of collecting royalties for its members and adding to the members list. All the singers have to do is register their membership with a nominal fee of Rs 2000 for lifetime. The payments of royalties are done once a year and in case of a deceased singer, the royalties continue to be credited to the singer’s kin for 50 years. Currently, the organisation has over 450 members across North, South, East and West. The organisation is also working towards building a benevolent fund for helping old and poor singers.