Lyricist-writer Mayur Puri feels there’s a long way to go before digital streaming platforms (DSPs) start acknowledging lyric writers on their streaming platforms. “It has been going on for so long now, but the problem is that there is no accountability and therefore no one listens,” says Puri.
On Monday, Puri, who has written songs such as Teri Ore (Singh is Kinng, 2008), Beintehaan (Race 2, 2012) and Selfie (Bajrani Bhaijaan, 2015) took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to call out the global audio streaming platform, Spotify, for not giving him credits for the songs written by him, which are currently streaming on the platform.
“I do not exist on @Spotify. I need to apologize to the people who love my songs, to the co-artists who created them with me, but mostly to my 156+ songs, which are orphaned with incomplete identities. I thought writing songs was enough. I assumed my songs would carry my name with them as the copyright law mandates. But I should have kept up with technology and changing times. I should have made an ‘artist profile’ and ‘claimed’ all my songs. I should have been careful. I failed. I’m sorry,” he wrote on X.
In a candid conversation with us, Puri laughs while expressing his shock and disappointment, which he feels is lack of respect towards artists and doesn’t ‘exactly’ understand any reason behind the same. ” Can you imagine any sort of this thing happening during the time of Sahir Ludhiyanvi ji, or Shailendra ji,” he asks. ” It’s not a case of the face missing and that’s why there are no credits being given. But it’s a case of lack of respect towards the artists, especially those who write songs,” he adds.
His grudge, Puri says is not only directed towards Spotify. “There are Indian DSPs as well, who hardly give us any credit or any royalties,” he says that the missing credits also amount to no royalties to the artist, which, legally speaking, is their right.
“I am not someone who runs after money infact that comes in the end. What I am saying is that I deserve to be recognised for my work, and that is very important,” he concludes.
