Audio industry ready to cash in on Eid season

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Ismail Hossain The country's audio industry is ready to cash in on the Eid season with the release of some 150 albums, slightly less than last year's number (170), but piracy remains a grave concern. The albums of both newcomers and noted singers are in the line during the festival. Production houses Sangeeta, G-Series, Laser Vision, Soundtek, Fahim Music, Gaanchill, CD Choice, Bengal Music, and Ektaar are releasing most of them. The leading albums are Porojonom of Arfin Rumey and others, X Prem of Asif, Vhubon of Balam (Balam 4), Porshi 3 of Porshi, Ische Hoy of Fahamida Nobi, Ar Tomake of Topu, Pobitro Prem of Safiq Tuhin, Anisha 2 of Anisha, Amar Akash Purotay of Lutfar Hashan etc. "The prospect of business is low due to restive political situation and piracy," Nazmul Haque Bhuiyan Khaled, President of Music Industries Owners Association of Bangladesh (MIB) told the FE. He said the number of albums is decreasing day by day. In 2010, the number of released albums during Eid was around 300, but now it has become almost half. Audio industry insiders alleged that the sector has been languishing from an alarming rise of music piracy for years, due to lack of proper legislation and enforcement of existing laws. The trend has even reached such a level that more than 95 per cent CDs sold in the market are found to be pirated. According the industry people, around 400 albums are released per year from around 50 small and big audio companies. The latest infiltration of internet technology and the easy access to DVD-R, as the government lifted tax from the commodity, are the major reasons why the musicians of this country are being financially deprived. "Due to the availability of MP3s that include over 100 songs at Tk 30 to 50, the audiences are reluctant to buy the authentic CDs of the artistes, thus depriving them of their royalty," said Mr Khaled. Meanwhile, singers, composers and lyricists said they are being deprived of their share of intellect more than the audio companies as the latter (audio companies) also do not pay the profit share to them. "We could not track how much copies were sold in the hit albums like 'Protyasha' and 'Protishruti' which are among the most sold albums in the history of Bangladeshi band music. The production companies made a large amount of money out of these but we did not get the deserving money. The problem has become even more acute right now," said prominent Singer Shafin Ahmed. However, Khaled ruled out the allegation, saying that their business is also at stake due to piracy. They do not deprive singers and lyricist. Shafin Ahmed termed downloading songs for free from illegal websites as another means through which artistes are being run down. Stressing the need for action against piracy, he said, "It is better to take action than to talk about creating awareness and for that reason I have decided to digitise my songs for monitoring and collecting revenues from the internet sites that host my music." "Music piracy is destroying our audio industry. Many production houses were shut down in the last few years due to the loss," said Ershadul Huq Tinku, chief coordinator of Movement Against Piracy. "Though the government makes move against piracy from time to time, the efforts are not enough in comparison with the pervasive piracy," he added.