Rakesh Anand Bakshi urges music companies to credit lyricists, composers for songs on YouTube

Author-filmmaker Rakesh Anand Bakshi, son of the legendary lyricist Anand Bakshi, has appealed to various musical platforms to give credit to lyricists and composers of the songs they upload on YouTube. 

In a series of tweets last evening, Rakesh wrote, “Dear Saregama Global. Over last three weeks, I have visited hundreds of songs published by you on YouTube. Thank you. They have millions of views, great! However, nearly all uploads credit singer/s, not others. You should credit co-creators, composer and lyricist too, na?” He sent the same message to Rajshri and Shemaroo. 

Explaining the rationale behind his appeal, Rakesh told Cinestaan.com, “If you don’t mention the name of the lyricist, how will people know who has written? How will singers sing songs if they are not written by someone? And on what will the composer compose it? Out of 100 songs that are uploaded, there are around two songs that have the name of the lyricist, while some of them have the music composers name.” 

Rakesh feels that the person doing the uploads should be instructed by the company. “There needs to be a policy because these companies earn through these songs. The songs are getting millions of views, which is great and I am very happy to see that. But they should give credit to our people,” he added.  

Rakesh also tagged legendary singers Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle in a post and urged them to request music companies to add the names of composer and lyricist.  

The author-filmmaker also believes that directors and producers deserve credit too. “The songs were written because the director brought in the story. And the producer takes a risk by investing his money in the film. There are so many producers who had to sell their houses and cars,” he said. 

When asked if any of the music companies have responded to his appeal, Rakesh said, “Not a single person has responded.”