President Rajapaksa launches royalty payment scheme for music artists

Onlanka News – By Janaka Alahapperuma
(Pix by: Sudath Silva)

A royalty payment scheme for Sri Lankan music artists was launched by President Mahinda Rajapaksa at Temple Trees on 08 April. This much needed new royalty scheme will benefit lyricists, singers and song composers in Sri Lanka. The state run Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) took the initiative by organizing the event for the benefit of the music artists.

The relevant gazette notification was issued on the 5th of January this year on the instruction of the President and under the intellectual property law to provide royalties for singing.

At the presentation ceremony President Mahinda Rajapaksa reiterates the importance to conserve the old songs of the veteran singers and inherit them to the future generation. He also instructed ministry officials to set up a separate unit under the Ministry of Media and Information to take legal measures regarding alternations being made to the original songs. The President further stressed that other radio and television channels must follow the example set by the SLBC to provide the royalty payments to the veteran artiste for their creations.

Dr. Pandit W.D. Amaradeva, Sangeeth Nipun Sanath Nandasiri, Rohana Weerasinghe and a large number of artists including lyricists, singers, and composers received royalty payments. Minister of Media and Information Keheliya Rambukwella, Secretary to the Ministry W.B. Ganegala, President’s Chief of Staff Gamini Senarath and chairman of the SLBC Hudson Samarasinghe were also present at the occasion.