Lyricist-singer Swanand Kirkire talks about missing credit: It was the music label’s fault

Lyricist-singer Swanand Kirkire recently called out Spotify on X for not crediting him for his song from the Marathi film Deool. However, while talking to us exclusively, he clarifies that it wasn’t actually the digital music platform’s fault but the music label’s. “It comes from the music label, Spotify picks that, so they weren’t wrong from the root. I didn’t call out Spotify saying ‘Why didn’t you give me credit’. My point was: ‘You need to have a method of checking’,” he tells us, adding that he was given due credit after he raised the concern on social media.

“It is resolved, they gave the credit within two hours,” he says, adding, “Talking in the public domain always helps and that’s what I did. They called the music label to fix it and they kept me in loop about their communication. They have now appointed a fact checking agency, so they are working towards it.”

The 52-year-old also attributes the shift to the Credit De Do Yaar movement, which started in 2020 when a group of lyricists penned a song to demand that they are given proper credits: “A lot has changed since we (lyricists) undertook the ‘Credit dedo yaar’ movement online. There needs to be a proper system, somebody has to be held accountable,” he says.

He notes that the issue of missing credits in the industry is sometimes not even intentional. “At times, these are just clerical mistakes,” Kirkire says adding that it still is a concern. “It happens with all artistes. There is no final resolution, it’s just that people should have respect. The approach should be, ‘If you have worked for me, I will give you credit’.” he signs off.