For decades, local artists and composers have complained about oppression and injustice in matters relating to the operations of collection bodies and the management of royalties in this country.
After listening to the grievances of music practitioners for so long, the government finally took action in March 2025, when at a Music Royalty Advocacy event, Domestic Trade Minister Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali announced that new Guidelines for royalty collection bodies would be introduced by the government, proposed to take effect in January 2026, to address all the dissatisfaction that existed among music practitioners.
“What was most shocking was that three collection bodies, namely MACP, PPM, and RPM, did not attend the event, seemingly boycotting it because they disagreed with the Guidelines.”
“As far as we are concerned, what those three bodies did was highly inappropriate and disrespectful towards the Minister, who had taken the time to attend the event, which he considered very important for further strengthening the royalty collection process,” said Datuk Freddie Fernandez, President of Karyawan.
“Several months after that, we were shocked again by further news that all three bodies had taken legal action against the Minister and applied to the court to nullify the Guidelines.”
“This action, in our view, represents a lack of appreciation and respect towards the Minister and the Madani government as a whole. All the more so given that two of the three bodies taking action against the Minister and the Madani government are led by two prominent individuals — composer Datuk M. Nasir and singer Datuk Sheila Majid.”
“M. Nasir is the Chairman of MACP, the collection body for composers, and Sheila is the Chairperson of RPM, the collection body for artists. The question that crosses our minds is: are they not, as fellow music industry practitioners, equally desirous of seeing stronger protection of artists’ rights, which have long been violated by certain parties? We do not quite understand why they wish to nullify the Ministry’s Guidelines, which provide significant protection and champion the rights of composers and artists.”
“What is even more disappointing is that they also did not consult their own members before taking such a drastic measure and proceeded to file legal proceedings against the government, which had previously consistently supported us,” he added.
“The irony now is that they are raising the issue of AI as a threat to the music industry through a body we have never heard of before, some Music Rights Alliance, and are requesting that the government take action and legislate to regulate the matter.”
“To us, this situation is deeply ironic. On one hand, they took legal action against a government initiative deemed beneficial, yet now they are asking the government for help on a different issue that may bring adverse consequences for them.”
“We consider this to be unwarranted, especially given that these two prominent names bear responsibility as Chairpersons of the bodies that dragged the government to court.”
“Karyawan will be organising a Musicians’ Convention on 21 June at Saloma, Kuala Lumpur, where we will discuss in depth all matters relating to the music industry, including AI. We believe that, through the good relationship between Karyawan and the government, we can hold bilateral discussions to ensure that the rights of composers and artists are safeguarded to the best possible extent.”
“What matters most is that Karyawan appreciates all of the government’s efforts to support the development of the music industry all this time, and at the same time strongly condemns the actions of any party that attempts to obstruct the government’s steps to champion the welfare of music practitioners,” he added.
