Ariel NOAH: It Would Be Good For Direct License To Be Agreed Since The Beginning Of Cooperation

Ariel NOAH (Photo: Instagram @arielnoah)

JAKARTA - Ariel NOAH, personally, refuses to apply direct license in the context of performing rights for his works. According to him, the system still has very basic weaknesses.

"In my opinion, direct licensing is an individual right, it's just that it's not common for many music industry players in Indonesia," Ariel said, citing his statement via Instagram, Sunday, March 23.

And what has to get special attention, said Ariel, direct license does not yet contain the mechanism regulated in the Copyright Act (UUHC).

"The output has not been tested, how is its efficiency in implementation to how fair cooperation is for creators and users, including the tariff," said the NOAH vocalist.

"And don't forget about the implementation of the tax, because the royalties are taxable. So far, the mechanism through LMK has covered the tax rules," he added.

Furthermore, Ariel did not agree if direct license was applied to the singer who first popularized him or commonly called the original singer.

"It would be nice if direct licensing had been agreed from the start of the collaboration, between singer and creator, not suddenly in the middle, after the song was popular," he said.

Not without reason, the 43-year-old singer said that the application of direct license after the song was known to the public, became very unfair to the singer.

"Because when negotiating about prices in the middle, one party has absolute power, namely songwriters. So, the negotiations will tend to be one-sided," he said.

Furthermore, Ariel mentioned the emergence of songwriters who wanted to apply direct license, because there was not yet the maximum management of royalties for performing rights by the Collective Management Institute (LMK).

"I assume, direct licensing arises on the basis of disappointment of songwriters to LMK who function to exercise their economic rights. From reports that are deemed insufficient in detail, to mechanisms that are deemed primitive, not digital, not easy, and so on," Ariel said. And this is not only felt by songwriters, but also other elements, such as performance promoters.

Ariel NOAH in a press conference for the Indonesian Voice Vibration in Jakarta (Ivan Two Men/VOI)