In what has come as a major relief to the singers of India, Indian Singers' Rights Association (ISRA) has finally managed to claim their first ever royalty amount in five years. The Indian Singers' Rights Association has been fighting for royalty rights of singers since 2013 and now, they have managed to collect an amount of Rs 52 lakhs. The money collected so far will be distributed among 730 singers, reports a tabloid. Expressing his happines over this, singer Sonu Nigam was quoted by mid-day saying, "This is the beginning of a new era. Something that we have been working on for several years is finally seeing the light of day." Celebrated singer Lata Mangeshkar, also expressed her joy saying, "Jo mudda maine uthaya tha, ab woh rang laa raha hai. Singers will now get what is their right."

ISRA co-founder Sanjay Tandon said, "We are proud that despite heavy odds, we managed to collect royalties from users, and also distributed them to singers. Though the amount collected this time is small, this marks a beginning." "Around 20 per cent of the collection is retained for the expenses of ISRA, while 80 per cent is paid to the singers," ISRA chairman Anup Jalota said.

As of now, ISRA, which is a government body, has collected the money from sporting events, restaurants and gyms, among other facilities.

While the singers associated with the organisation earn royalties, those who haven't registered with it are not paid any amount initially. "The royalty of non-members is held in a separate account. It remains untouched for three years. During this period, they can register with us and claim their amount. However, if they do not register, the money is credited to ISRA's fund," Tandon said. He also mentioned that legal heirs of deceased singers are also allowed to become members of the organisation and claim the royalty amount.

Tandon said that they intially began targeting sports events like IPL in the beginning. "When we first started off, we sent out notices to all parties, specially sporting events like the IPL. When they didn't pay for playing songs in the stadium, we took them to court. They started paying us royalties from March 2017, which went into the collections we distributed in January. He also highlighted the fact that royalties are decided upon based on different tariff plans. "There are 21 plans. For instance, the tariff decided upon for sporting events is R1 per seat in the stadium. Restaurants, on the other hand, pay us an amount equivalent to the least priced drink on their menu per day. The amount collected from these restaurants is equally distributed among all singers who are members of ISRA." to know more about ISRA, click here.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 14, 2018 10:13 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).