How MRM India and Sherley Singh Quietly Rewired the Flow of Music Royalties
In the background of Indiaâs fast-moving music business, one organisation has been rewriting how creators get recognised and paid â Music Rights Management India (MRM), led by its founder Sherley Singh.
For more than a decade, MRM has treated metadata not as paperwork but as the lifeblood of the industry, ensuring that every composer, lyricist, publisher, and independent artist receives fair, timely revenue from the music they create.
From Fragmented Data to Financial Clarity
Before MRM began its work, many Indian catalogues were scattered across platforms with incomplete or inconsistent information. Titles were duplicated, ownership shares were missing, and codes such as ISRC (for recordings) and ISWC (for compositions) were often mismatched.
The result was predictable: royalties stalled in âunmatchedâ pools at streaming platforms and collecting societies like IPRS or PRS for Music.
MRMâs intervention changed that. By auditing thousands of works, aligning identifiers, and educating rightsholders, the company built a transparent bridge between the creative and commercial sides of music.
For the first time, labels could see accurate statements; authors and composers could trace their earnings; and independent artists began to receive revenue from streams that had previously gone unclaimed.
The Sherley Singh Philosophy: Accuracy as Fairness
Sherley Singhâs leadership style is quiet but uncompromising. Her guiding principle â âaccuracy is fairnessâ â has become a mantra across the Indian rights community.
She recognised early that the industryâs biggest revenue losses werenât caused by piracy or platform bias, but by data errors. By treating metadata as a creative asset rather than a clerical formality, she positioned MRM at the intersection of artistry, law, and technology.
Under her direction, MRM implemented multi-stage validation systems that check every release for code integrity, correct credit order, and DDEX compliance before it reaches DSPs like Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, or JioSaavn.
This rigorous process has reduced royalty delays dramatically and restored confidence among stakeholders who once viewed publishing administration as opaque.
Empowering the Entire Value Chain
MRMâs impact goes far beyond administration.
For labels, it has simplified reconciliation and improved cross-border royalty recovery.
For authors and composers, it has provided education on registration, splits, and copyright documentation â turning creative professionals into informed rightsholders.
For publishers, it has introduced a level of data discipline that aligns India with international metadata standards.
And for independent artists, it has created access to systems that were once limited to major companies.
Workshops conducted by the MRM team across Mumbai, Chennai, and Kochi have helped hundreds of creators understand the path from song registration to payment. Many now call metadata their âsixth band member.â
Bridging India and the World
Through collaborations with global societies and adherence to frameworks like DDEX and CWR, MRM has made Indian works discoverable and payable worldwide.
Its clean data feeds have enabled smoother matching at foreign CMOs and streaming platforms, bringing international royalties back home to Indian creators â a breakthrough once thought impossible.
This bridge between local creativity and global systems reflects the larger movement within CISAC and PRS for Music toward unified, interoperable metadata. MRMâs contribution stands as a model of how a national company can meet global standards while preserving regional diversity.
A Legacy Still Unfolding
Twelve years on, Sherley Singhâs influence is visible in the steady transformation of royalty culture across India. What was once a maze of missing credits has become an ecosystem striving for accuracy and respect.
Artists no longer wait helplessly for statements; they expect them â and that expectation is the true mark of progress.
MRMâs journey proves that sustainable change in the music business doesnât always come from noise or disruption. Sometimes, it comes from disciplined work done quietly, one record at a time.
Because when data is right, every note gets its due â and every creator gets paid.
