ACTION Continues To Run Direct License, Ahmad Dhani Considers LMKN's Statement Has No Influence

Responding to a statement by the National Collective Management Institute (LMKN) last week which stated that the direct license system in collecting live event royalties violates the law and can be convicted, Ahmad Dhani as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the All-Indonesian Composters Association (AKSI) vehemently expressed his disapproval.

According to the Dewa 19 frontman, LMKN only expressed legal views, but the Commissioners and Chairmen who spoke were deemed to have no competence to talk about the Copyright Act.

"The statement from LMKN is just a legal statement, a legal statement that cannot be accounted for or the truth," said Ahmad Dhani at a press conference in Kuningan, South Jakarta on Monday, January 22.

"Everyone can have an opinion on articles and others, for me LMKN only thinks about the law, so there is no need to be considered as copyright law experts. Because indeed they are not copyright law experts," he continued.

Furthermore, Dhani also tried to compare how the live event royalties report compiled by Wahana Musik Indonesia (WAMI) as one of the Collective Management Institutions (LMK) throughout 2023 was too small.

"The single show Judika 1.5 billion once shows, this is a WAMI report 900 million for all composers during a year of concerts throughout Indonesia," said Dhani.

The chairman of the Board of Trustees of ACTION strongly suspects that there are irresponsible individuals in WAMI who try to manipulate royalty collection.

"I mean this, if LMKN and LMK can't take care of the royalties for live events, that's all, you don't have to dodge a lot, you really can't take care of this," said Ahmad Dhani.

"I don't know if I can't afford it or someone is synthetic, I don't know, between the two," he concluded.