'Show some spine and let musicians be respected as a community'

Vishal Dadlani

In a social media post, Vishal Dadlani stated that after Saaki Saaki, he has been made aware of some more remixes of Vishal and Shekhar songs that are being made and produced without the original composers' knowledge and consent. He has said that he will sue anyone who makes remixes of Vishal and Shekhar songs without their specific consent with an objective of releasing them, monetising them or using them in any film other than the one for which the song was created.

Cover versions which are put out for free are fine by him, but remixes released even partly as someone else's song will not be accepted. Composers sign songs over to the producers of films, for use in a specific film with specific lyricists and actors. Surely, anyone can see that it is wrong for these songs to be used anywhere and everywhere without the original composers' permission or involvement.

Vishal says "I shall certainly exercise my legal rights if needed and even move courts against the films and the musicians if it comes down to it. It's not fair that anyone should be able to do this, and I'm sure that the Courts will see this for what it is. Daylight robbery of work, credit, opportunity and most crucially creativity.

Once again, I would like to ask my fellow musicians NOT to remix Vishal and Shekhar songs without our permission, due credit and remuneration. That is robbery, nothing more. Stop doing this, show some spine, and let yourself and all musicians be respected as a community."

The responses to the Instagram and Twitter posts by Vishal reflect the public frustration with remixes. There are comments like, "People who do remixes and use them are just lazy and stealing someone else's music for money."

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