Written permission must before commercial usage of contents: BAMBA

Bangladesh Musical Bands Association (BAMBA) has announced on Saturday that in order to commercially use the songs of its associated bands, it is now required to have written permission from the association.

BAMBA announced this statement via a press release issued on their Facebook page on Saturday, stating that many artists and bands have been commercially performing and utilizing popular songs made by its 25 member bands on several broadcasting platforms, reality programmes and concerts, without any proper consent.

The organization stated that this new policy has been finalised to protect the creative rights of the bands.

The 25 member bands who have agreed on the decision are - Arbovirus, Aurthohin, Artcell, AvoidRafa, Lalon, Black, Beduin, Cryptic Fate, Dolchhut, Dreek, Feedback, LRB, Mechanix, Miles, Nemesis, Obscure, Powersurge, Pentagon, Renaissance, Shironamhin, Shunno, Souls, The Trap, Vikings and Warfaze.

Welcoming this initiative, Arbovirus frontman Sufi Maverick told UNB - "Personally I support the fan-made covers because this is something that our fans deserve, out of their love for us. However, I am against the monetization of the tracks without our consent. When someone rearranges a song, makes a nice video and uploads in the YouTube and relevant media - it is better to take permission from the original artist."

BAMBA was founded in 1987, with 14 prominent bands of the country and working to resolve copyright issues to support its member bands since its beginning. It has also organized several noteworthy concerts with top names of the country's band music scene.