Music on memory chip to cost more!

CHENNAI: If you are among those in the habit of having your favourite songs recorded on your mobile phone’s memory chip for a paltry sum, then this is bound to hit you. Henceforth, mobile  phone retail and service centre outlets may not be able to upload your favourite songs onto your phone’s memory chips for a small sum as they have been doing all this while. Because, from now on, they will need to possess a licence issued by Cell Muzik to do so.A wing of the South Indian Digital Music Management Private Ltd (SIDMM), Cell Muzik is an attempt to reduce the loss that the audio industry suffers as a result of unauthorised distribution of movie songs and music albums.“These days, audio companies produce less than 2,000 audio CDs  of a film. Of these, not even 500 CDs get sold, thanks to these retail outlets which make money by uploading the films’ songs onto the memory chips of users for a negligible sum. This results in a huge loss to the company concerned,” said Sridhar, director of SIDMM, at a meet organised to announce the inauguration of Cell Muzik.Sudha Raghunathan, a classical singer and president of the South India Music Companies Association (SIMCA), said that in the last 10 years, the business done by the audio industry had come down to about `600 crore from `1,200 crore. Seconding her opinion was singer Unnikrishnan, who pointed out that audio piracy was shutting down avenues for new talented singers and musicians in the industry.Explaining Cell Muzik’s role, director Sridhar said, “It will act like a bank that will have songs of all genres including old and new film songs, folk songs, devotional songs and classical songs in both Tamil and Malayalam.”“SIDMM has got approval from over 47 audio companies including 5Star, Star Audio and Agi Music to issue licences to such outlets which sell their songs on chips. This will ensure that the revenue reaches the respective audio companies,” he said and added, “There are about 15,000 such shops across the state that make money to the tune of `500 crore every year. By acquiring licences issued by Cell Muzik, these shops would end up paying SIDMM anywhere between `15,000 and `24,000 every year. This is very less compared to how much they make from this business.” “Those who refuse to get licences will be legally dealt with,” he said.