Copyright Office of Bangladesh, in collaboration with Bangladesh Musical Bands Association (Bamba), organized a seminar on Tuesday at the National Library. The seminar was on “The role of copyright law in the protection of intellectual rights of songs.”
State Minister for Cultural Affairs, KM Khalid, was the chief guest at the event.
"The government will remain a bridge to establish singers' intellectual rights to their songs by properly implementing copyright law, said KM Khalid, state minister for cultural affairs.
“Copyright is a very important thing to be established as well as protection of the intellectual rights of a singer, but in our country most singers are not aware of these things”, said the minister.
The minister also said all singers should come forward to protect their rights and the government is always with them to establish their legal rights.
In the absence of Hamin Ahmed, current president of Bamba, Maqsoodul Haq, a founding president of Bamba, gave a speech at the seminar.
Maqsoodul Haq said: "It is really a matter of sorrow that band /rock music is still unrecognized by the government in our country."
“We need an effective Collective Management Organization (CMO) as well as a strong Bangladesh Lyricist, Composers and Performers Society (BLCPS), to preserve the financial and moral interests of local musicians” he added.
Director General of Department of Archives and Libraries, Dilip Kumar Saha, said: "The authorities should organize more workshops on copyright to let people know more about these things."
“Singers from every stage should come under a single umbrella to protect their intellectual rights by applying proper copyright laws,” he added.
Registrar of Copyright Office of Bangladesh, Zafar Raza Chowdhury, said: "Before publishing a track each singer has to register his/her song first to establish their intellectual rights.
“On the other hand, after contractual work with a company for a specific period, if an artist has a complaint to take control of the copyright to his/her song, then he/she should complain to the Copyright Office.
“According to the complaint, we will work in the best interest of the singers,” he added.