Here is why budding singers are upset with Ilaiyaraaja
- Maestro’s legal team raises copyright infringement question
- The app currently allows people to record themselves singing to a host of songs on their database.
- The app had become popular among music buffs who took to rendering their favourite hits.
FollowPopular music composer Ilaiyaraaja has forced karaoke app Smule to remove his songs from its database. Smule is a singing app that allows their users to sing Karaoke, now has removed most of Ilaiyaraaja’s songs from its list.Â
This after the music composer claimed copyright infringement by Smule for not seeking prior permission for his tunes. The news is a  major disappointment for the fans of music director Ilaiyaraaja, who have enjoyed singing along to his famous tunes over the years on the karaoke app Smule. All the songs of the maestro might go off from the platform for copyright infringement.
According to Hindu, the maestro has sent letters to Smule and 15 other music app developers and websites that charge users for his songs.Â
E. Pradeep Kumar, Legal Adviser to Ilaiyaraaja, said that they had sent a mail to the owners of Smule questioning how they could use them without taking permission. Ilaiyaraaja's copyrights consultant also said, "Ilaiyaraaja is only against the companies who are using his songs for monetary gains. His songs are available for free on Youtube, but he is not opposing it."
In March, Ilaiyaraaja had sent a legal notice to singer S P Balasubrahmanyam, restricting him from singing his songs without permission.
