Slank More Relys On Income From Appearances On Stages Than Royalties

JAKARTA - As a band, Slank does not care about royalties which have recently become a hot topic and debate among Indonesian music industry players.

Moreover, the band consisting of Kaka (vocals), Bimbim (drums), Abdee (guitar), Ridho (guitar), and Ivanka (bass), did not see royalties as the main tool to support them.

Kaka sees, for the current condition, Slank prefers to rely on coffers from their appearance.

"In our case, (royalti) is not yet the main livelihood. We still have to rely on off the water," Kaka told the media crew at the Slank Headquarters in Duren Tiga, South Jakarta some time ago.

Regarding the conflict over music royalties in Indonesia, Bimbim emphasized that Slank chose to be in the middle. They do not want to enter and side with one of the camps.

Regarding the implementation of direct license, the drummer also advised Ahmad Dhani to be the loudest musician to speak up about the system to pass through the law.

"Maybe direct license does not have a law in Indonesia yet. Yes, that means that Dhani wants it, that's his job, right there (DPR) to make laws," said Bimbim.

"But still, the choice is to send a songwriter, he wants to put it in the LMK (Collective Management Institution) or want to direct license," he added.

Furthermore, Slank also admitted that he had applied direct license before joining LMK Wahana Musik Indonesia (WAMI) and the enactment of Law No.28 of 2014 concerning Copyright.

Before WAMI, Slank direct. So which TV (phone) 'Mas Bimbim, this is an artist who wants to play the song Slank, can you?' Then we'll see first, the artist, cool (whether) not, beautiful girls, 'Oh okay', said Bimbim.

However, Kaka said that Slank had never made the direct license system to withdraw the maximum profit from royalties.

"In the past, we didn't think about the payment, how much they want to pay, it's up to them. Yes, the important thing is the permit," concluded Kaka.