Cashing in on music’s grey market!

They had created some of the most popular foot-tapping Bollywood numbers. They are also regarded as a very talented bunch of musicians. But, barring a few music directors in Bollywood, nobody else has heard about them. Welcome to the secret underworld of struggling-but-immensely-talented bunch of musicians who earn a living by selling their creations — and get paid for not taking credit for it!

Jai Menon, a New York-based musician who is better known as Stylebhai, admits that composing music for other musicians has become one of his staple sources of income.

“It’s a strange world. You get to hear a number that you’ve composed, but when you buy the CD there’s somebody else’s name on it. In some cases I have been given partial credit as a music arranger or for background score. But in most other cases, my name has been omitted. You choose to keep quiet about it because you have received a payment,” he says.

Other musicians, composers and singers alike admit that this ‘trend’ has really caught up in Bollywood where music directors are racing against time to build a bank which enables them to offer a platter of tunes to film-makers.

Music director Pritam says, “Taking help from others happens here. There are occasions when the mukhra of the song has been composed by me and the antara by someone else. I can tell you that in my case, I always make sure that I give due credit because I have been accused of plagiarising so many times.”

Singer Hard Kaur feels the trend is disastrous because it is killing fairplay in Bollywood. “It is happening! People are selling as well as buying music. If you sell a tune and are content with the fact that you would get no credit at all then you are equally at fault with those buying it. I know about what is going on but I don’t know what can be done about it,” she says.

Musician Rahul Sharma offers a solution. “All these are very hush-hush and only the people buying or selling the music know about it. We must have a body which would take care of these disputes and make it mandatory for everybody to give credit. Or else, a huge penalty must be imposed. Then nobody will buy somebody else’s music once they know that if they get caught, they would have to pay a huge fine.”