Must The Music Royalty System In Indonesia Get Out Of Internationally Applicable Habits?

Illustration of musical royalties (unsplash)

JAKARTA - The problem of music royalties in Indonesia is still a 'tricky clash' that is not over yet. The legal case that occurred between Ari Bias and Agnez Mo became one of the consequences that arose.

Especially for royalties from music performances even though there has been a Copyright Law (UUHC) since 2014 and several other regulations songwriters and show organizers are still dissatisfied with the work carried out by the National Collective Management Institute (LMKN) and the Collective Management Institute (LMK) as the institution in charge of collecting and distributing royalties.

Big questions also arise: "Should the royalty payment system in Indonesia come out of habits that apply internationally?"

As is known, songwriters who are members of the All-Indonesian Composite Association (AKSI) are at the forefront expressing their dissatisfaction. They asked LMKN and LMK to be disbanded, and proposed a direct license system where the singer (or group) immediately paid royalties to the songwriter.

On the other hand, the organizers who in practice are referred to as Copyright Users are obliged to pay royalties in some cases refuse to carry out obligations on the grounds that LMKN and LMK are not transparent.

In this case, Candra Darusman as the representative of the Music Ecosystem Study Center (PSEM) expressed his view: Incomers who say Indonesia does not need to follow general (international) rules and turn from rules/bias/best practice turn out to cause incidents. And EO (operators), beyond a handful who have received LMKN license certificates, defend themselves by saying the system is less transparent. In fact, LMKN and LMK response coverage reports are available and easy to access.

Candra also highlighted the decision of the Central Jakarta Commercial Court which granted part of Ari Bias' lawsuit against Agnez Mo. According to him, the decision raises concerns about the domino effect, where similar lawsuits appear everywhere.

"Just say that the review above is a managerial template, although it can be regulated by another written agreement. An encouraging symptom is that all of us - creators, perpetrators, legal and organizational advisors - continue to seriously explore rights and management matters. No party holds the absolute truth because incidents continue to vary while technology is developing," said Candra.

"Hopefully we all don't get tired of continuing to tread, footpath after foot, continue efforts to improve that are still ongoing and need time, and still respect each other. Someone who is sick (the music ecosystem) may recover quickly if he is treated with antibiotics (the lawsuit that was won). In this incident the antibiotics overdose so that ecosystem resilience will actually weaken. Advance for a moment, weak later. In fact, the creative industry where Indonesia's music ecosystem today wants to contribute to national development, among others by enlivening music concerts. If you don't have the endurance then how to contribute if it is fragile in it.