Inaugural Meeting of the Copyright Law Drafting Team, Deputy Chair of Commission XIII of the House of Representatives: Originally a Revision, Now a New Law

JAKARTA - The House of Representatives (DPR), along with the government, LKMN (National Mandates for the National Coalition for the Development of Music), and musicians held the first meeting of the Copyright Law Revision Drafting Team to resolve the royalty controversy.

Deputy Chairman of Commission XIII of the House of Representatives, Andreas Hugo Pareira, stated that it is possible to create a new law if the content of the discussion on the Copyright Law revision exceeds 50 percent.

"First of all, this morning we spoke in Commission XIII with the Director General of Intellectual Property Rights, and we received a lot of input. And this afternoon's meeting continued, explaining that first, we will transfer the individual proposals submitted by the Legislation Body to Commission XIII. This afternoon, an agreement was reached to form a drafting team to begin discussing the material of this Copyright Law," Andreas said at the DPR building on Wednesday, August 27.

"This was originally a revision, but now it's a new law. We'll see," he continued.

Andreas explained that the Copyright Law revision not only addresses royalties, but also many other matters related to copyright.

However, his office will hold another meeting to receive input related to copyright.

The Drafting Team consists of representatives from the House of Representatives (DPR), the government, LKMN (National Mandate Party), Aksi (National Mandate Party), and Visi (Vision). Andreas also stated that the DPR is targeting completion of the revision or drafting of the new Copyright Law by 2025.

"All input will be submitted to the drafting team, and we will then formulate it," he said.

Meanwhile, musicians who attended, including Ariel Noah and Bunga Citra Lestari, hoped that their input and complaints would be accommodated in the revision of the Copyright Law.

Ariel stated that the Drafting Team will hold another meeting next week to discuss specific issues that need to be resolved.

"We are very happy to finally be invited to an official forum to convey our complaints. We mentioned earlier that today is about shopping around problems. So, we are addressing all the problems from the singers' perspective. There were also problems from the creators' perspective. As a singers' association, we are addressing our perspective," Ariel explained.

"Earlier, we outlined several potential issues, but that's it for now. Earlier, we were asked to directly involve three people in the drafting of the bill next week. So, perhaps next week will be more specific, perhaps to find a solution," he continued.

Meanwhile, BCL hopes for fairness in the regulations regarding copyright and royalties for musicians.

"How can we ensure this goes hand in hand? Everyone gets their rights according to their respective portions. That's what we really want. So there must be a law, clear regulations for that, so that everything is fair. We don't want any more problems in the future," he said.