Moushumi Bhowmik unhappy, ‘Mithai’ uses song without permission
In this era of digitisation, artistes have been very vocal about their rights and ownership over their work—particularly in terms of copyright acts and royalties.
Recently, noted singer Moushumi Bhowmik opened up about this matter. The artiste took to social media, sharing a series of events about how she had been deprived of her rights as an artiste.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. Recently, a song by Bhowmik was aired on an episode of Zee Bangla's popular daily drama series "Mithai". Learning about the matter, the artiste protested the issue and informed the Zee Bangla authorities to look into the matter.
"I had no idea that such a thing was going on till someone called me to say that they heard me on television. Someone else sent me a video recording of the last two minutes of the Bangla serial, 'Mithai'," wrote Bhowmik.
Moushumi Bhowmik was shocked to learn about the matter and questioned who gave Zee Bangla the right to use her song without her permission.
As per the singer's information, this song is from the 1994 HMV album, "Tumio Cheel Hao", for which she received a royalty payment of Rs 2 (as shown in the attached image of the royalty cheque) in the early years. Bhowmik also wrote that in 2007, she received Rs 212, and that was the last time she ever received any royalty from that album.
Expressing her sorrow, the singer shared, "If they had asked me for permission to use my songs in such a serial, even if they had offered me tons of money, would I have said yes? No, I wouldn't. I have reasons for singing and not singing in certain places."
Unfortunately, the issue lies with the record label, who signed a contract with the artiste, where it clearly states that she cannot object to any of their actions regarding the commercial airing of her songs.
In her post, she also wrote, "Saregama used to be the Gramophone Company of India Limited. My friends looked at the contract and were angry with me." Her friends were angry at her for signing such an exploitative contract.
"Another lawyer friend of mine, who is doing a PhD on copyright law in the UK, had warned me that the contract implied that I had no rights. So, it turns out that HMV can do anything that they like with my 1994 recordings."
She also noted how Zee Bangla did not even add a credit line when playing her music, nor did they inform her. Bhowmik also added an image to her post, which shows a royalty cheque worth Rs 2, from the Gramophone Company of India Limited. She also stated how even these payments had stopped coming since 2006.
Sharing the photo of the cheque dated October 16, 2006, she expressed her grief about companies like Zee Bangla, HMV, and Saregama—who continue to exploit her hard work.
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