Amid the Kala Chashma row wherein singer Amar Arshi has called out rapper Badshah for taking credit for the song that has gone viral on Instagram, singer Jubin Nautiyal has urged artistes to be careful with their paperwork before giving away any song’s rights. “Problems happen when your paperwork is not correct and people get into disputes claiming isne mera gaana le liya,” he says.

The Raataan Lambiyan (Shershaah, 2021) singer adds, “If you have read the agreement properly and know what kind of commitments you are getting into, you can always claim your dues later. We are not living under a rock; we are part of this world.” That being said, he refrains from commenting further on the feud: “All I can say is other artistes should learn their lesson from this episode.”

He believes that artistes, particularly in India, trust people too easily in the early stages of their careers, which leads to problems. “When a new artiste tries to make a career in this industry, all they want is their song to be released. They trust other people easily, so don’t pay much attention to paperwork. But when the song becomes a hit and starts generating money, they turn around to get credit for the success. But how can you make that claim if your paperwork isn’t up to scratch?” he wonders. Here, the 33-year-old expects artistes to understand “the value of their music in times like these, where every second of their work holds immense monetary value”.

Nautiyal notes that the music industry has undergone a drastic change in the past few years: “Today, all artistes receive royalties for their work, demonstrating how our industry has evolved into a business and it should be treated as such.”