Many Song Creators Get Small Royalties, Kadri Mohamad: Not Wrong LMKN Completely

Kadri Mohamad (Instagram @thekadrimohamad)

JAKARTA - Songwriters are getting more and more vocal about the income from royalties for their songs. For example, Rieka Roslan's case, which claimed to have only received Rp130 thousand from his songs for a year. Not to mention Piyu, who admitted that she only received Rp130 thousand from the song Keeper Hati sung by Ari Lasso.

This problem must of course be a concern for the fulfillment of the rights of songwriters. Moreover, there are already regulations made for their welfare.

Kadri Mohamad, a singer who also practices as a lawyer, also highlighted the issue. According to him, the system has been established, but the handling has not gone well.

According to Kadri, there is already a National Collective Management Institute (LMKN) tasked with collecting royalties for songwriters, but the work cannot be maximized.

"The system is already there, there are already LMKNs that collect royalties. However, the work is not optimal," said Kadri Mohamad when met in Cirendeu, South Tangerang recently.

Kadri sees that LMKN cannot work optimally because there are not many officers who collect royalties for songwriters.

"I'm not defending LMKN, but indeed the task is very heavy. They are assigned royalties from concerts throughout Indonesia, while the officers are at most," said Kadri.

"LMKN is not like a tax office everywhere. If the tax office reaches the regions, while LMKN is only that much. So, LMKN cannot be completely blamed," he continued.

Therefore, Kadri sees that there is an important role for event organizers and music program organizers. He saw the necessity of the party to pay royalties.

"That's why, now what can be expected is the awareness of EO and the event organizers. It is impossible for LMKN to ask for one by one every time there is a music concert," concluded Kadri Mohamad.