Ari Lasso Says Musicians Are Waiting for WAMI's Invitation to Meet Openly

JAKARTA - The official clarification from Wahana Musik Indonesia (WAMI) appears to be insufficient. Ari Lasso hopes that one of the largest Collective Management Institutions (LMK) operating in Indonesia will meet with its member musicians.

In a recent post on his Instagram account, the 52-year-old singer stated that the musicians are awaiting WAMI's official invitation to meet.

"We musicians await your invitation to meet openly, after WAMI has been sincerely audited," said Ari Lasso, quoting the caption of the post on Tuesday, August 19.

"If everything is in order, why make excuses? If it's true, why be afraid?" he continued.

The main point the "Mengejar Matahari" singer wants to know is how WAMI distributes royalties to its members. He feels that what has been done so far has not been effective.

"But the essence of this problem remains unanswered. What formula is causing my royalties to be lower than Mr. Muthoillah's?" Ari said.

"With full awareness and no anger (nothing personal), I and my friends would like to receive information on your calculation technique. Of course, after we, as responsible citizens, have paid our obligations through an open #AUDITWAMI by the institution we appointed. That's the response from my friends who called me," he continued.

In the latest royalty distribution report from WAMI, Ari Lasso only received IDR 497,300. He considered this amount too small.

"Thank you, WAMI, for the response email, which turned out to be shortly after the transfer email to Mr. Muthoillah. I remain grateful for the blessing, which turned out to be even smaller, IDR 497,000," Ari said.

"Thank you, this is proof of your work. Hey, how come it's in order? I transferred Ricky Five Minutes IDR 1.5 million per show. Oh, and below that, several hundred thousand, from, say, my 10 hit songs over three months. I don't believe in coincidences," he concluded.