Days after Arijit Singh announced retirement from playback singing, singer Abhijeet Sawant shared some shocking statements about the music industry. In one of his recent interviews, the Indian Idol winner stated that singers are "exploited" and are underpaid.
During a conversation with Pentarise Studios, Abhijeet was questioned about the remuneration structure in film music. He replied, "People don't want the singers to become bigger than the film itself. That's why they are paid a certain amount. Musicians still don't receive royalties for film music. So Biddu, who worked on Lafzon Mein, also did a couple of songs in the West, and he gets so much royalty payment from those two songs that he can survive his whole life on that money. We don't even get enough money to sustain our livelihood."
He went on to say, "They have created a system like that. Singers are themselves greedy for opportunities, and they know that 'If this song gets released in my voice, with some big star lip-syncing then I can use this song for my entire life.' Singers themselves don't want money, because they just want to sing the song or work with a certain producer. We accept whatever amount we get, because if we don't do it, someone else will. We get exploited a lot."
Arijit made the announcement on January 27, thanking his listeners for their constant love and support over the years. In his message, the singer revealed that he would no longer be taking up new assignments as a playback vocalist.
“Hello, Happy New Year to all. I want to thank you all for giving me so much love all these years as listeners. I am happy to announce that I am not gonna be taking any new assignments as a playback vocalist from now on. I am calling it off. It was a wonderful journey,” he wrote.
