LMKN Involves Musicians And Song Creators Into "eyes And Ears" To Improve Royalty Collection

LMKN Meeting (PHOTO: Nailin In Saroh-VOI)

JAKARTA - The National Collective Management Institute (LMKN) is taking new tactical steps in an effort to increase the collection of royalties from the commercial use of songs or music in public spaces.

LMKN commissioner, Aji M. Mirza Ferdinand, revealed that his party is now asking for cooperation from songwriters and musicians to play an active role as reporters.

Musicians or songwriters are encouraged to document such as taking photos or reporting to LMKN if they find their songs played at business places such as restaurants or hotels that are suspected of not paying royalties.

The commissioner, known as Icha Jikustik, explained that this initiative was taken as a form of state responsibility in protecting the rights of citizens, especially art workers.

"The point is, LMKN is a state aid institution. The government is obliged to protect its people, protect its people," said Icha when contacted by media crews on Tuesday, November 18.

"For art workers, there are their rights that they really have to enjoy, their rights that must be conveyed to them," he continued.

The move to encourage musicians to actively report is deemed necessary because there are still many business places that are allegedly not fully compliant with the applicable royalty regulations, even though these regulations have been promulgated by law or Ministerial Regulation.

According to Icha, the assistance from musicians and songwriters will greatly help LMKN's performance to ensure the achievement of a good ecosystem in royalty collection and distribution.

Furthermore, Icha said that there were several musicians and songwriters who voluntarily reported and sent evidence to LMKN. However, LMKN will not release the identities of the reporters to the public.

"There are some, there are. It's just that we don't need to tell who. The important thing is that there is evidence and so on," said Icha.

In addition to relying on the role of musicians as "eyes and ears", Icha ensures that LMKN has taken various other more extensive steps. However, he did not specify these measures on the grounds that not all strategies needed to be shared with the public given the diverse responses of society.