Indonesian Music Personnel Convey National Music Problems At The Ministry Of Culture

Discussion of Indonesian music personnel at the Ministry of Culture (Ivan Two Men/VOI)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Indonesia held a discussion with national music actors with the title 'Ngopi Pagi Insan Musik' at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology Building, Central Jakarta on Thursday, November 14.

Minister of Culture Fadli Zon and Deputy Minister of Culture Giring Ganesha listened to various problems voiced by the parties present representing their organization or themselves.

The discussion was also attended by the Presidential Special Staff for Creative Economy, Yovie Widianto and Member of Commission X DPR Ri, Ahmad Dhani.

Cholil Mahmud, who was present representing the Federation of Indonesian Musician Unions (FESMI), voiced a lack of awareness of musicians in Indonesia to fight for their rights.

"The musicians' awareness for association is not too high, even though with the association, musicians at least have more bargaining value to fight for their rights," Cholil said.

The Greenhouse Effect frontman also voiced other problems that FESMI had raised several times, such as safety guarantees in the form of BPJS Employment for musicians, strict regulations regarding contracts for musicians playing in hotels, cafes, and other places, as well as royalties from digital music platforms that are considered too small.

In addition, composer Addie MS also voiced his concerns. He felt the lack of the government's role in building a performance building specifically for music or concert hall.

In Jakarta, said Addie, there is a concern hall made by the private sector at an international level. However, the buildings that have been built by the government are still a multipurpose building.

Reflecting on several countries in Asia, Addie saw the existence of a music performance building in the city center as a symbol of the greatness of a culture. He hopes that the current government can build a good concern hall.

"I still hope that it is not only the private sector, but also from the government, which is located in the city center," said Addie.

Meanwhile, other parties who attended this event included the National Collective Management Institute (LMKN), the Collective Management Institute (LMK), the Indonesian Music Promoter Association (APMI), the music label, and many more.

Other issues were also discussed in this discussion, which included musical royalties, to the revision of the Copyright Law.