Chairman of Yash Raj Films, Aditya Chopra; Shridhar Subramanium, vice-president of Sony Music India and Devraj Sanyal, MD-CEO of Universal Music have been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with an alleged multi-crore royalty non-payment scam.
According to Asian Age, the developments took place after Bhushan Kumar, managing director of T-Series, and Vikram Mehra of the Saregama music label, were quizzed by the law enforcement department. The agency is currently in the process of figuring out the dues of each of the five concerned music companies.
As per section 18 of the Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012, 50 per cent of the royalties collected by music companies are entitled to the lyricist and composers. However, the people falling under this category in association with these companies, have reported that they have not received them since June 21, 2012.
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In fact, reports Firstpost, a recent probe revealed that T-Series had allegedly collected royalties worth Rs 2,000 crore in the last six years of which 50 per cent belong to lyricists and composers, but not a penny was paid.
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Others accused by the ED in its Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) include Rakesh Nigam, CEO of Indian Performing Rights Society (IPRS); Hasan Kamal and Om Prakash Sonik of IPRS; Tips MD Kumar Taurani; Vijay Lazarus, an honorary member of IPRS; and Ganesh Jain of Venus.
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