Who shortlists the song, the singer the tune sitting with the composers? The Producer and director do that.... so why blame the singers for a flop?

The fight she started way back in the 1960s has resurfaced with singers arming up against the labels and producers demanding royalty for exploitation outside a cinematographic film. Lata Mangeshkar looks back at the testing times and traces its relevance with the current moment.

How receptive were producers / labels when you suggested you wanted royalties?

I used to get royalty from the produer's share. if thhe producer was entitled to 20 percent royalty, my 2.5 percent royalty on the number of records sold came out of that. When I asked for royalty, I had fights with some people, few insisted i take a larger token and forgo royalty and some producers paid me secretly. While producers and labels used to get royalty from radio nd other platforms, the singers never paid attention to it.