Ilaiyaraaja moves Madras HC against Sony Music, claims unauthorized use of 300+ tracks

Legendary composer Ilaiyaraaja on Friday told the Madras High Court that his collaborations with film producers and creative partners have always been on a principal-to-principal basis, and never as an employee or under a ‘work for hire’ arrangement, The Times of India (TOI) reported.

The music maestro has filed a petition against Sony Music Entertainment India Pvt Ltd, seeking to restrain it from exploiting his compositions in more than 300 films across digital platforms, including YouTube, Apple Music, and Amazon.

He demanded that the company be directed to render a true and faithful account of all revenues, receipts, and profits from the exploitation of his works since February 18, 2022, and to pay him all amounts found due, together with interest and costs.

Admitting the plea, Justice N Senthil Kumar directed Sony to file its counter by October 22 and to furnish day-to-day revenue collected from exploiting Ilaiyaraaja’s works.

Senior advocate S Prabakaran, representing the composer, told the court, “To date, no person or entity has produced documentation or legal basis to establish that Ilaiyaraaja parted with the title, ownership or any aspect of his rights in his original musical works.”

He added that Sony is commercially exploiting Ilaiyaraaja’s works through digital platforms without complying with the Copyright Act, which mandates equal sharing of royalties with the original creator. “Ilaiyaraaja is reliably given to understand that Sony is generating substantial revenue from such digital exploitation,” TOI quoted Prabakaran as saying.

The counsel further alleged that Sony has been publishing, modifying, mutilating, adapting, and remastering the composer’s original works without authorisation.

(With inputs from TOI)