Musicians raise the pitch against piracy | Kolkata - Hindustan Times
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Musicians raise the pitch against piracy

Hindustan Times | By, Kolkata
Jun 21, 2013 09:38 AM IST

iPods, online downloads and 3G technology, which revolutionised the music industry, have turned out to be a bane for the city’s musicians.

iPods, online downloads and 3G technology, which revolutionised the music industry, have turned out to be a bane for the city’s musicians.

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While lamenting the closure of Music World, the Eastern India Music and Home Video Producers’ Association, a forum of singers, composers and producers, expressed apprehension over the future of the music industry in the city. They also wanted the state government to take steps to rein in piracy.

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“With rapid proliferation of hundreds of music websites, pirated CDs and DVDs, the music industry is being hit badly. Revenue generation has plummeted over the last few years,” said Sashi Gathani, owner of Gathani Records, a day before World Music Day.

Singers like Srikanta Acharya and Raghab Chattapadhyay along with their contemporary counterparts such as Sidhu, Soumitra and Surajit of ‘Bhoomi’ fame came in unison to put forward their seven-fold demands, including making cyber crime laws more stringent, legalising a few music websites and so forth. Surajit said complaining against pirated music websites even in Google proved futile. “You can get all the 16 albums of an artiste in a pirated CD for just Rs 16,” added Surajit.

“It is very depressing to see that our passions are getting sold in pirated CDs. It takes at least six months to make an album but when people swiftly download it from a website without paying a penny, it shatters you,” lamented singer Rupankar Bagchi. However, city-based music industry veteran Tiku Manek’s announcement of opening three music stores in the city in the next couple of months was the silver lining. Manek declared that he is going to take over noted music store G55 at Dakshinapan market and will open an M3 music store over there on July 10. Another store will come up in Park Street on the third week of August, he said.

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