Karyawan President Datuk Freddie Fernandez (left) and Aris Ariwatan President of 3P Muzik at the event in KL on Wednesday (March 26). - Image from Karyawan
KUALA LUMPUR: Two major artistes and composers associations, namely Karyawan and 3P Muzik, were instrumental in assisting in the drafting of a new set of guidelines together with existing collective management organizations (CMO’s) to govern the conduct of music royalty bodies in the country.
Karyawan is the association mainly representing artistes while 3P Muzik represents mainly music composers.
Several rounds of meetings and discussions were held with the Intellectual Property Corporation MyIPO, leading to the development of the guidelines and the subsequent announcement by the Minister of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali on 17th March 2025.
However the event for the announcement by the Minister was marred by the absence of three of the five bodies that have been licenced by the Ministry through MyIPO.
Apparently the three bodies, namely MACP, PPM and RPM were not happy with the guidelines and decided not to attend, most likely as a form of protest.
The three bodies eventually came out with a joint statement, asking that the guidelines need to be reviewed after further discussions are carried out between the bodies and the government.
However the two creators’ associations, namely Karyawan and 3P Muzik, are in the view that the guidelines are necessary as they protect the interests of the creators of the works that are being used, namely the composers and the performers.
Karyawan President Datuk Freddie Fernandez previously came up with a statement saying the guidelines are a “good move” and commended the government and the Minister for implementing them. He said the guidelines would bring about greater transparency and accountability among the bodies collecting royalties.
“There have been innumerable complaints from the users of music such as broadcasting stations, hotels, shopping complexes and the retail sector regarding having to pay multiple times for using the same music.
They prefer if there is a single body to collect royalties rather than the existing five bodies, including one each from Sabah and Sarawak” said Datuk Freddie Fernandez.
“The event was held today to show that the artistes and performers are in favour of a harmonious music industry where collections are done in a fair and amicable manner in an atmosphere of mutual respect between both parties, the creators and the users.” said Aris Ariwatan President of 3P Muzik which co-organized the event with Karyawan.
“I feel it was very rude for the tnree bodies to insult the Minister in that way by not attending the function, especially when there are so many complaints against them” said Aris.
“I would like to call on MyIPO to conduct a thorough forensic audit on the operations of the three companies, including the single body MRM which was closed a few years ago” he added.
The two associations are proposing that the government adopts the system used by the UK, Australia and New Zealand, where users only have to pay to one body and the tariffs are determined by taking into account the rights of all stakeholders, be they composers, singers, musicians or recording companies.
This will bring about several advantages. Firstly would be the cost savings from scaling down from the five existing bodies to just one body.
“We are aware that just one of the bodies right now is having to bear annual cost of around RM 10 million. Imagine if you multiply that by the five bodies. They are incurring huge amounts for the same services that are conducted by 5 different parties. This is a total waste of money” said Isaac Raj, CEO of the Malaysian Hotels Association.
“If it’s just one body the cost of operation could be brought down drastically to maybe, resulting in probable savings of more than RM20 million that could go back to the artistes and composers or there might even be a possibility of lower tariffs being charged due to the cost saving” he added.
“Secondly it would be easier for the government to monitor and regulate the conduct of these bodies by having a single reference point in reporting as well as development of copyright protection in the country”.
“These guidelines are much needed and we urge the Ministry to introduce a single collection body as soon as possible, with the enforcement of the guidelines to go along with it. Once they are introduced and there is greater transparency and accountability from the bodies, these guidelines could be subject to improvement and refinement from time to time.
"The main thing is to enforce them immediately so the controls can be put in place by the government to ensure that users are treated fairly and equitably” said Dr Sri Ganesh Michels, President of the Malaysian Budget Hotels Association.
Freddie added that “The government, through the SSM, could also assist the single body by providing information from its database as well as enforcement officers of premises that are using music but not licenced as yet.
"This cooperation from the government will result in a multi-fold increase in royalties, as compared to the current situation where the 5 bodies are unable to get much government support due to the divisions and differences between them”.
The Music Industry Harmony event was attended by more than 20 popular artistes and composers, many of whom took to the floor to voice their support for the guidelines as well as the single collection body.
Among them were Khatijah Ibrahim, Ito and Ghani of the Blues Gang, Norshila Amin, Baggio, Ad Samad, Amir UK’s and Ezlynn.
Ezlynn voiced her disappointment that as a performer with several hit songs she has to date never received a single cent of royalties even though her songs are still being played on air.
“I fully support this move to change the way things are done. If it’s not done then we as artistes will continue to be deprived of our rights, We can’t let this go on” she said, stating her gratitude and full support for the movement to create a better deal “for performers like me” she added.
“The artistes groups also fully supported the call from the users for the implementation of a “single music licence” to cover all rights as opposed to the current situation where all the various bodies are trying to maximise their own collections at the expense of the users, while spending million of ringgit in the process” added Freddie.
In addition the event also was also used as a platform to voice discontent among the artistes and composers with the current state of the three bodies where their rights are being subjugated by parties who hold control over the respective boards.
Among the main issues mentioned were the constitutions of the three bodies, the voting systems for Board elections and the transparency of the three bodies which have become the subject of much suspicion and mistrust by the members who are demanding immediate changes.
They believe the best way of achieving this, besides introducing guidelines and creating a single collecting body, is to conduct a forensic audit on their operations and royalty distributions over the last 10 years or so.
