Fadli Zon Encourages Indonesian Music To Have High Offering Power To Increase Royalties

Minister of Culture Fadli Zon after attending the discussion 'Priday Coffee for Music Personnel' (Ivan Two Men/VOI)

JAKARTA - Minister of Culture (Menbud) of the Republic of Indonesia, Fadli Zon hopes that Indonesian music has high bargaining power, so that Indonesian songwriters and musicians can get better royalties.

Meanwhile, the amount of royalties (mechanical rights) obtained by Indonesian musicians from digital platforms is still very small. This was conveyed by Cholil Mahmud in a discussion event 'Ngopi Pagi Insan Musik' with the Minister of Culture, Senayan, Central Jakarta, Thursday, November 14.

The Green House Effect frontman said the royalties obtained from digital platforms were still very small for most songwriters and musicians in Indonesia. This is because the amount of royalties set by these platforms is not large.

"If musicians who are already famous and 'above', the royalties may be felt, but for the lower middle class musicians the royalties are still very small. Because our bargaining power with this digital platform may still be weak", Cholil said.

After the discussion, Fadli expressed his support for renegotiating with various digital platforms regarding the amount of royalties for Indonesian musicians. However, to get to that stage, he encouraged Indonesian music to increase his bargaining power.

"We can renegotiate with digital platforms, but I think it also needs to be in the country, that's our bargaining power," said Fadli Zon.

"We need to liven up so that there can be a kind of competition. Because if there is no competition, it will be difficult for us," he added.

Regarding royalties, Fadli also ensured that the current government would try to enforce the applicable rules.

"I think Pak Prabowo's commitment in law enforcement is now clear, starting from online gambling, smuggling, drugs, I think including appreciation for artists, in this case with law enforcement on their copyright," he said.

Furthermore, Fadli Zon reminded that culture is important to continue to be developed, considering that cultural products themselves have economic value for a country.

The culture can also contribute to the movement of our economy. For example, I think there are a lot of cultural observers (and) artists who work in certain areas, whose contribution is actually very large to our economy. There is music, films, etc. And if this is optimized, this can contribute a lot," he concluded.