Rohail Hyatt wants YouTube to help reclaim stolen copyrights to song 'Jugni'

Music producer and musician Rohail Hyatt does not have the copyrights of the popular Coke Studio song 'Jugni' on YouTube and, of course, he's not happy about it.

The song 'Jugni' by Arif Lohar and Meesha Shafi featured in Coke Studio's season 3 in 2010. It was was produced by Hyatt, who was the executive producer of the show at the time. The music video for 'Jugni' has been uploaded to Hyatt's official YouTube channel and has amassed more than 76 million views since it was posted in 2010.

Hyatt tweeted on February 2, saying that a party unaffiliated with the creation of 'Jugni' has claimed the copyrights licence of the song on YouTube. "With much controversy over copyright infringement recently, here I am with a claim on YouTube. A company called Bquate SAC has claimed 'Jugni' and even after disputing it, they retain their claim. Team YouTube, please help claim it back!" he posted.

The musician posted a screenshot of the music video on YouTube which shows Bquate SAC as the licenser on YouTube. Ironically, Bquate's website says it is a "music platform that helps established artists, songwriters, managers, labels and publishers take control of their music, content [and] data".

This might not be the first time Bquate SAC has laid claimed another artist's property as their own. A Twitter user commented on Hyatt's tweet and shared a tweet by another artist who accused Bquate SAC of stealing the copyrights of their song.

Hyatt's tweet talks about a recent "controversy over copyright infringement" — a reference to folk singer Nirmala Maghani accusing Coke Studio Season 14's producer Zulfiqar J Khan, or Xulfi, of lifting the melody for the song 'Tu Jhoom' from her vocal sample. Xulfi denied Maghani's accusations, saying his work "is not borrowed or without credit".