At the Annual General Meeting of the Malaysian Artistes Association (Karyawan), a resolution was unanimously passed by all members present, calling on the Malaysian government to take control of music royalty collection and distribution, an issue that has been plagued by conflict and uncertainty for more than two decades.
In providing details, Karyawan President Datuk Freddie Fernandez, who was reelected as the President at the AGM held in Kuala Lumpur, said, “The resolution proposed that the Malaysian government follow the model adopted by Indonesia, where similar issues were faced until the government resolved them by taking over all royalty collections from the existing collecting bodies.
"They set up a government body called LMKN (Lembaga Manajemen Kolektif Nasional), which manages all public performance royalty collection efficiently and transparently.
"Malaysia, which has an annual public performance royalty collection of almost RM200 million, now has a timely and important opportunity to do the same and reform the national music royalty collection and distribution framework in a similar manner that is fair, transparent, accountable, and future-ready.
"For many years, the music industry has faced recurring concerns relating to royalty transparency, high administrative costs, fragmented collection structures, disputes between collective management organisations, and dissatisfaction among artistes, composers, lyricists, performers, publishers, and recording owners over whether royalties are being distributed fairly and efficiently.
“The proposed platform would function as a government-managed national music rights library and royalty distribution system, where every musical work, sound recording, rights ownership structure, licensing record, usage report, collection amount, and distribution payment is recorded, verified, and auditable.
"Through this system, every song played can be matched to the correct rights holders, and royalties can be automatically calculated and distributed based on verified ownership data and actual usage. This would minimise duplication across multiple administrative layers, and provide a clear audit trail for the Government, rights holders, users and authorised stakeholders. It would also, to a certain extent, control the use of AI-generated music, something which is likely to happen if no action is taken,” he added.
“This Government-supervised model would also directly support the spirit and direction of the Copyright (Collective Management Organization) Guidelines 2025 by strengthening governance, transparency, record-keeping, reporting, accountability, and fair royalty distribution. It would ensure that composers, lyricists, performers, publishers, recording owners, and other rightful beneficiaries receive their respective shares according to verified rights and actual usage data.
“The meeting in which our entire committee was unanimously returned to power uncontested shows the confidence the members have in the Karyawan management and how we have been championing their rights all this while,” he added.
“I am deeply touched by the support of the members in not only reappointing me to head Karyawan, but also my entire team, who have been working extremely hard in the pursuit of artists’ rights and intellectual property protection in the country,” said Freddie.
“Among other issues raised was the fact that many recording companies have not been paying artists their share of royalties from the sale of albums and social media platforms. This is evident from the fact that the family of the late Malaysian superstar Sudirman Arshad only just received decades worth of royalties totalling RM 367,000 after a very long time.
"We have since been informed by many of our members that they, too, have not been receiving their fair share of royalties from sales and streaming
services. Karyawan is currently accumulating all the necessary data to represent them in their quest for justice in achieving a fair settlement of their dues as artists and performers,” he added.
“Among the other issues discussed were the issues about the preference choosing influencers with a large following over experienced actors for roles in films and dramas, the need for greater protection of artistes as gig workers under the Gig Economy Act, and the use of AI in music in films and how to ensure they do not hurt the employment opportunities for musicians, composers and film practitioners," said Freddie.
“We have to study all these issues and possibly engage in discussions with the relevant authorities to see how best to resolve them whilst looking after the interests of our members. For sure, we have our work cut out for us, now that the members have given us the new mandate to proceed."
