Calls Collecting Live Event Royalties Unreasonable, Ahmad Dhani: There Must Be Thieves

Ahmad Dhani (Ivan Two Men/VOI)

JAKARTA - Ahmad Dhani again spoke out loud about the performance of the National Collective Management Institute (LMKN) and the Collective Management Institute (LMK) in collecting royalties for performing rights, especially for live events or music concerts.

As an illustration, Ahmad Dhani took the report of Wahana Musik Indonesia (WAMI) in collecting live event royalties throughout 2023.

He said WAMI collected live event royalties of Rp900 million throughout 2023. This value is considered too small when compared to Judika's single concert, where Dhani said the singer was paid Rp1.5 billion for one appearance.

"We get reports from WAMI in 2023, live event royalties from all concerts rather than singer songs using the composer song, we get a report of 900 million in one year," said Ahmad Dhani during a press conference in Kuningan, South Jakarta, Monday, January 22.

"Even though I just wanted to rent Judika for a single show, the price was 1.5 billion," he continued.

"So this is just a shadow. Single show gambling 1.5 billion once shows, this is a WAMI report 900 million for all composers during a year of concerts throughout Indonesia."

Therefore, the Dewa 19 frontman strongly suspects that there are irresponsible parties who misappropriate the royalties.

"So, there must be a thief here. There must be a thief here, it is suspected. But there must be this thief," said Dhani.

"Doesn't it make sense, Judika's single concert is 1.5 billion, but the royalties received are all 900 million composers," he said.

Dhani believes that if his party is assigned to audit LMKN and LMK, many irregularities will be found.

He also reiterated that LMKN and LMK would not dodge when criticized. At the same time, he asked songwriters who are fighting for their rights with a direct license system not to be disturbed.

"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.