National Music Day, Armand Maulana Wants Prosperous Musicians

Rmand Maulaan hopes that there will be improvements in the welfare of musicians in the future. (Between)

JAKARTA - At the moment of this March 9 National Music Day, Armand Maulana, the band's vocalist, GIGI, expressed his high hopes regarding the improvement of the royalty system, which still has not prospered ancient and present musicians.

He hopes that regulations related to royalties and institutions that carry out royalty withdrawals. "I hope that the articles that regulate the royalties of the existing music and agencies can practically be further refined," Armand said in a statement to VOI.

In Amrand's view, in practice there are still many lacking. "In the lower current, in practice there are still many who are flawed from existing regulations. Yes, at most of the 100, maybe only about 40 percent is done, even in big cities. In small or more important cities, nothing has been realized," he continued.

It didn't stop there, this musician from Bandung also mentioned several examples of cases that he encountered. "For example, we as musicians or composers have registered our songs with the Collective Management Institute (LMK). If we enter the LMK legally, it is strong. Our songs will be collected royalties wherever the song is used. For example, at weddings, music festivals, cafes, karaoke places. That can be realized in big cities. That's what I mean is still not perfect in terms of implementation," explained Armand.

Armand wants all parties who commercialize a song for various events and needs to be able to respect composers and songwriters who have the right to the song. They, said Dewi Gita's husband, must first realize that what has been done has been used by other people's works and that there are rights that must be paid through LMK. Next, it can be submitted to musicians, composers, songwriters, etc., "said the singer of the song "Only You Can." Another example put forward by Armand when he participated in a music festival in Jakarta. "Yesterday I played at a music festival in Jakarta. The one who was the performer of the band one to the next band was DJ Koplo's appearance. The song that DJ played was varied, ranging from Sheila On7, The Rain, Koes Plus, and others. I'll go back stage to GIGI's children, this is not paid, right? I don't know the promoter, the EO, the DJ-like LMK," he said.

"And I had a chance to see that the DJ changed the setlist to the 80s because he saw the crowd was cool, that's actually not allowed. For example, if he played 30 songs, now all of them must have been registered. Yes, I think he saw the audience's mood, yes, for example, the fit for the song Iwa-K was corrupted, but he had to record. What was previously the Free Iwa-K song was not on the list, so there must be a registration. Now, I feel like this isn't it. In the end, it's not perfect again," said Armand.

Armand also revealed one of the saddest examples. "I'm really sad that there is a dangdut songwriter composer to the DPR, and I just found out that the old man created a really crazy hit song. Because royalty doesn't work, he still lives in a rented plot. Imagine if the system was perfect, the father would have been prosperous just by relying on his songs," he concluded.

Therefore, on this National Music Day, Armand Maulana really wanted the problem to be perfected. If this problem does not solve the welfare of musicians, it will be neglected.