Calm Down, Street Performers Won't Be Subject To Song Royalties

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo issued Government Regulation (PP) Number 56 of 2021 concerning the Management of Song and/or Music Copyright Royalties.

Director General of Intellectual Property of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights Freddy Harris explained that PP regulates royalty payment obligations for everyone who uses songs or music commercially and or in public services.

So, what about the street buskers who make a living from singing the musicians' songs? Freddy said, by the rules in Law No. 28 of 2014 on Copyright, the complainant enters into the party that is obliged to pay royalties.

"By the rules, the complainant should be hit, entered into the party that is obliged to pay royalties," Freddy said in a virtual discussion, Friday, April 9.

However, during this time, the National Collective Management Institute (LMKN) as a royalty puller from the organizer of the activities that play the musician's song never asked for royalties to the complainant.

Thus, the government will also not burden the complainants to pay royalties, considering their income is also not much.

"If the busker on the street can be Rp1,000, Rp2,000, Eating rice alone is difficult. If the complainant, yes already (do not have to pay royalties). I think, LMKN never narik money from the complainant," he explained.

For information, PP No. 56 of 2021 regulates the economic rights of songwriters and music, economic rights of managed performers, as well as economic rights of managed phonogram producers.

Parties that are obliged to pay royalties are individuals or legal entities playing songs of a commercial nature, namely in the form of commercial seminars and conferences; restaurants, cafes, pubs, bars, bistros, nightclubs and discotheques; music concerts; aircraft, buses, trains, and ships.

Then, exhibitions and bazaars; cinema; phone wait tone; banks and offices; shops; recreation center; television broadcasting institutions; broadcasting institutions; radio; hotels, hotel rooms, and hotel facilities; and karaoke business.