Javed Akhthar gets elected as the Chairman of the IPRS

The Indian Performing Right Society better know as the IPRS underwent a landmark of a development recently. In what is being termed as a fair and square election, Javed Akhthar celebrated lyricist, script-writer and poet has been appointed as the chairman of this revamped society. In the past, Akhthar has been known for fighting for the rights of music artistes (composers, singers and lyricists) to a fair share of revenue from music royalties. He was also instrumental in the passing of the Copyright Amendment Bill a few years ago. 

For the unintiated, IPRS is a copyright society comprising authors (singers, song-writers and composers) and publishers (music labels) and reports to the central HRD Ministry. In the past few years, the society came into the spotlight for all the wrong reasons; even attracting the High Court's attention. Now, almost after a decade the IPRS has undergone a change in its structure and newly elected members have been appointed to the office. Other names that have been newly included to the office are :

1. Aashish Rego (Music Composer) 

2. Rajinder Singh Panesar aka Raju Singh (Music Composer) 

3. G.V. Prakash Kumar (Music Composer - South)

4. Anupam Roy (Lyricist)

5. Sahithi Cherukupalli 

6. Mandar Thakur (COO - Times Music)

Apart from Manadar Thakur everyone else will bear office on the authors' side. Also Thakur is the only new addition to the publishers' side. The rest like Shridhar Subramaniam (Director - Sony Music), Kumar Taurani (MD - Tips Industries), Devraj Sanyal (Director & CEO - Universal Music Group), GaneshJain (co-founder - Venus records and tapes), Vikram Mehra (MD- SaReGaMa) are old office bearers who have been retained. Speaking to the media post his victory, Javed Akhthar was quoted as saying,

“IPRS has turned over a new page and a new chapter has started, where there is no WE and THEM, only US. Writers, composers and publishers have risen above the past conflicts and have a taken a pledge to work together for the enhancement of Indian Music Industry’s reach and prosperity."