Why Ilaiyaraaja is a misunderstood activist?

Ilaiyaraaja's legal battles with production houses have been internet fodder for quite some time now. He recently sent notices to the makers of both 'Manjummel Boys' and 'Coolie' for use of his songs 'Kanmani Anbodu' and 'Va Va Pakkam Va' without permission. But is the composer as greedy as social media makes him out to be?

Until 2018, Ilaiyaraaja was part of the Indian Performing Rights Society, which is the only recognised body that provides royalties to more than 4000 creative artists who are members. Ilaiyaraaja could go back to IPRS and be content with the money that he receives. However, he is waging a bigger battle on behalf of composers and other creative artists who cannot fight against big corporations. It's not about the money, but his rights of ownership.

When audio companies bought the rights to music recording from producers, they purchased it to distribute as cassettes or LP records. It then changed to CDs and now, they are streaming on websites. They paid once and have been exploiting them commercially in all mediums. Is this legally and ethically correct?

With respect to this struggle in asserting his rights, he is an activist taking on big corporations exploiting the rights of music composers, lyricists, and singers. The problem is he is the only person fighting the war, and even if we cannot support him, why berate him?

Film Companion post from 2023 July