Bangladesh Copyright Office organised a special press conference today, to hand over a royalty sum of $5,014 to the Ayub Bachchu's family, at Agargaon's National Archive Centre in the capital.

This was made possible by relentless efforts of the Copyright Office and the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, which previously ensured the proper archiving and royalty collection of 272 of the legendary musician's works.

State Minister for Cultural Affairs KM Khalid was present as chief guest at the programme, while Cultural Affairs Ministry's Additional Secretary, Sabiha Parvin, also President of Bangladesh Copyright Board, was a special guest at the programme.

The programme started with a welcome speech by Bangladesh Copyright Office deputy registrar Muhammad Raihanul Harun, followed by speeches by members of LRB, fondly remembering Ayub Bachchu.

Ayub Bachchu was vocal about royalty and artistes' rights for the majority of his career. Photo: Star

Ayub Bachchu widow Ferdous Ayub Chandana was present at the event.

Chandana received the cheque from State Minister for Cultural Affairs, KM Khalid. The audience and participants shared their gratitude for the deceased artiste's immense contribution to Bangladeshi music.

The minister talked about the magnitude of this achievement, in his speech.

"The fact that you can now earn royalties through digital media is still a new concept to most," he said. "I congratulate the Copyright Office for the fruition of the hard work that they have done. However, I request that the same measures be taken for all our respected musicians in the country."

The monetisation and digital syncing of 272 of Ayub Bachchu's songs through various platforms like Facebook, YouTube, iTunes and more, were done with the help of MCN Company Z M Studio, while GAK Media were assigned with collecting royalty from two telecom companies and one local OTT platform.

According to the agreement with GAK, a one-time fee of BDT 5 Lakh was paid to Ayub Bachchu's family, which will be adjusted from the royalty received from the aforementioned platforms. The family will still receive regular royalties, as monitored by Bangladesh Copyright Office.

Zooel Morshed, the project coordinator of the initiative, provided a breakdown of the royalty amount that each of the channels yielded.

The ceremony ended with a note of thanks by Bangladesh Copyright Office's registrar, Zafar Raja Chowdhury. "Without a doubt, Ayub Bachchu was one of Bangladesh's biggest artistes, and we wanted to preserve his legacy in proper fashion," he said. "I hope that more artistes will be aware of their rights, and file for copyrights through the proper channels."

Ayub Bachchu was the first-ever applicant to the E-Copyright system. He applied for registering his claims of his works right after the establishment of the Online Copyright Registration System (E-Copyright) on August 23, 2017.

Unfortunately, the great artiste passed away on October 18, 2018. Throughout his life, he was vocal about copyright and artistes' rights.

People residing in Bangladesh can enjoy Ayub Bachchu's songs free through the official website made by Bangladesh Copyright Office and the Ministry of Cultural Affairs. Those living abroad will be able to download his albums by paying USD 9.90, where each song will cost them USD 1.75.

Through the programme, Bangladesh Copyright Office pledged to keep working to ensure fair royalty disbursement and preservation of music for all working artistes in the future.