Rapper Arivu on Friday alleged that he has not received any royalty from the viral Tamil song Enjoy Enjaami despite writing and composing key parts of it, five years after its release.
Arivu, who was credited as a “featured artist” on the track, claimed in a thread on X that he “wrote the full song and composed the main melody” but did not receive payment or ownership for the work.
“Five years later, the collaborators hold the rights and receive royalties, while I received no payment and no ownership for my work,” he wrote.
Released in 2021 by the Maajja label backed by A R Rahman, the song — a collaboration between Arivu, singer Dhee and composer Santhosh Narayanan — became an overnight global sensation.
However, disputes involving creative ownership, credit and financial compensation surfaced soon after its release, leading to a fallout between the creators.
In his latest posts on Friday, Arivu said he wanted to provide some “clarity” on the issue and stressed that “credit and compensation must also be fair”.
“The song was shot in my village, with stories from my land and my people,” he wrote.
Arivu also said that at the time of the project he did not fully understand that being credited as a “featured artist” meant he would not receive royalties.
Responding to the allegations, Narayanan rejected Arivu’s claims and challenged him to debate the issue publicly.
“Pretty much every single one of your technical/ownership/legal claims are dishonest and delusional as always,” Narayanan wrote on his official X account, adding that Arivu had blocked him “everywhere”.
Arivu, meanwhile, said he had attempted multiple times to resolve the matter privately but “those efforts went nowhere”.
“Independent artists: protect your work. Have agreements. Know your rights,” he added.
Narayanan reiterated that the idea for the song was conceived by Dhee and that director Manikandan developed its core storyline and concept.
“This song idea was conceived by Dhee and also has some of her in it. The core storyline and concept of the song was done by director Manikandan... I composed, produced abs created all the melodies in the song,” he wrote.