Imagine composing over 7,000 songs in your lifetime…
And then being told you can't put many of them on Spotify.
That's the surreal reality Ilaiyaraaja is waking up to this week.
The legendary Maestro — the man behind the soundtracks of an entire generation of Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada cinema — just lost a big round in the Delhi High Court.
You hum the tune. You know his name. You assume the song is his.
But copyright law doesn't work on vibes.
On July 1, 2026, Justice Tushar Rao Gedela ruled that Ilaiyaraaja cannot broadcast the songs from 134 films on Amazon Music, Apple Music, JioSaavn or Spotify.
Why?
Because the sound recordings don't belong to him.
They belong to Saregama.
The court drew a razor-sharp line:
And since a sound recording, once baked into a film, becomes part of the cinematograph work… the producer is the first owner. Not the composer.
Even if the composer is the reason the film is remembered.
February 2026. Saregama notices something odd.
Ilaiyaraaja has quietly uploaded the same disputed recordings to streaming platforms — claiming ownership.
He'd also licensed Naguva Nayana (from the 1980 cult film Pallavi Anupallavi) to Black Madras Films for a movie called Mask.
Saregama went to court.
Got an ex parte injunction almost immediately.
Ilaiyaraaja tried to get it vacated.
👉 The court refused.
The 134 films locked under this order include soul-of-a-generation classics:
Four decades of magic. All frozen.
This isn't just a Kollywood story.
It's a warning for every musician, writer, designer and coder who ever signed a contract without reading the small print.
You can be the soul of the work.
And still not be the owner of the work.
Indian copyright law is crystal clear — the person who assigns the rights loses the rights. Even the Supreme Court said it back in 1977.
Ilaiyaraaja gave the world unforgettable melodies.
But the paperwork gave Saregama the streams.
And in 2026, paperwork still wins.
That's all for now!
