Rachana Dubey (BOMBAY TIMES; March 30, 2020)

Last week, Javed Akhtar had posted a video, stating that the Indian Performing Right Society (IPRS) will help over 3,000 of its lesser privileged artistes, musicians and composers monetarily, to sail through the Coronavirus crisis.

While talking to Bombay Times, the lyricist-writer and the chairman of the IPRS, said that the decision was made unanimously during the society’s first-ever board meeting held virtually, through video and conference calls, a few days before the complete lockdown had set in.

“No one opposed the idea because each one of us understands the gravity of the situation. Royalties earned from music are collected by us and they go to the publisher, author and composer. Depending on their body of work, certain companies and individuals collect far more royalty than others. I felt that we should do something for those who don’t have enough royalty coming their way to sail through this difficult time,” explained Javed, adding, “We drew up a list of about 3,000 people from the music fraternity and hopefully, this week, we will be able to start sending them monetary relief so that they have the means for basic supplies.”

Originally, the idea was to distribute a smaller amount every week, but Rakesh Nigam, the CEO of IPRS, said, “We have decided to send out the amount in one go so that people can stock up sufficient supplies. We have a welfare and benevolence fund formed by using a percentage of the royalties earned by our members. We’re using about `3 crore from that fund to help those in need. We will look at doing something more if the situation persists for too long. We don’t accept donations, and neither do we run a business that supports us. We’re doing it using what we have legally and rightfully earned with our hard work.”