Sony rejects Ilaiyaraaja's demand for earnings disclosure

Sony Music has rejected music maestro Ilaiyaraaja’s demand for higher royalty for his compositions, asserting that it acquired rights to a catalogue of film sound recordings—including songs composed by Ilaiyaraaja—via assignments from Echo Recording and _ Oriental Records.

- HD Bureau

The label contends that for works created under traditional _film-i-ndustry contracts the first owner may be the film producer or the record label, and that post-2012 amendments to the Copyright Act do not retroactively confer full rights to composers for all works.

The Sony defence is in response to the Madras High Court has direction to Sony Music Entertainment India Private Limited to submit a detailed statement of accounts by 22 October showing revenue earned from the commercial exploitation of works composed by Ilaiy-araaja.