Malaysian musicians and artistes unhappy three main music collective bodies taking action against new govt guidelines

The Star

a day ago

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian musicians and those working in the music industry were left perplexed on Sunday when it was announced that three royalty collection bodies, or Collective Management Organisations (CMO) as they are widely known, have decided to take the government to court in order to the oppose new guidelines set by the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living and the Intellectual Property Organisation of Malaysia.
Several rounds of meetings and discussions were held with the Intellectual Property Corporation or 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.
The three CMOs however, have taken to the courts in their attempt to obstruct the implementation of the new guidelines. In fact, the case will be coming up for mention on Tuesday (July 1) at the KL Courts in Jalan Duta.
The three bodies that have taken the court action against the government namely the KPDN Minister and MyIpo are Music Authors' Copyright Protection or MACP of which the Chairman is legendary composer Datuk M. Nasir, Recording Performers Malaysia or RPM of which the Chairman is Datuk Sheila Majid and Public Performance Malaysia or PPM whose Chairman is Rosmin Hashim.
In a recent joint statement to the media, MACP, PPM and RPM said the guidelines undermined their autonomy and were not aligned with existing laws. The three bodies also added that the new CMO Guidelines of 2025 could negatively impact copyright holders, having been published without their consultation.
The guidelines, issued by the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO) on Jan 17, were intended to improve the governance and operations of collective management organisations.
In a special press conference set by the Malaysian Artistes' Association (Karyawan) in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, many artistes, composers and musicians said they were shocked, perplexed and unhappy with the decisions of the three CMOs to undertake this legal action against the Minister and the government.
Karyawan President Datuk Freddie Fernandez said "Based on ongoing complaints from music artists and users of music, as well as the result of various engagement sessions with rights holders, CMO's and music users which began in 2023, MyIPO then published the Guidelines 2025 in January this year.
"The new guidelines are excellent. They address many of the issues faced by music creators in ensuring they are treated fairly when it comes to voting rights and also provides for greater transparency and accountability from the bodies," said Freddie.
"So the move by the three CMOs to take this sort of court action against the government is perplexing to say the least, especially when the majority of the members of the three organizations are extremely satisfied with the guidelines and grateful to the government for listening to their grievances and addressing them in the guidelines," said Freddie.
Almost all of the 50 musicians and artistes who were present at the gathering, comprising members of the three CMO's said they were also not informed of the decision of the three CMOs to take the government to court in this manner.
Ad Samad, Malaysia's well-known composer/lyricist, said he was deeply shocked with the decision of the three bodies.
"We (the members) from the three bodies were just not told about this decision to take the government to court. We have no idea whose decision it is but this is exactly why we need the guidelines.
"To prevent the managements of the bodies from taking this sort of unilateral action against the will of the members.
"These new guidelines ultimately help and support the artistes and music composers and ensure their rights are protected, besides giving them a voice in how the CMO's are run" said Ad, who with other musicians on Sunday signed a memorandum to support the new guidelines.
"At the end of the day, we just want the new guidelines to be implemented as it is for the good of all music creators in the country."
Another well-respected musician and composer in the country, Zaim Zaidee, said in the last two decades there had been many issues on the rights of the musicians and artists in the past and the new guidelines will address many of these issues.
"The MyIPO sorted out many things for many artists and those in the music industry. This decision by the CMO's in taking the government to court does not make sense and on top of that it was done without the knowledge of the members of the CMO's. But we are here today, to ensure that everyone knows that many of us in the industry do fully support the new guidelines" said Zaim.
Music director and video specialist Cheb Ali also said that the new guidelines are the right move for all those in the industry.
"I'm a member of MACP as well as RPM. This move by the three CMO's has been confusing because first they said they were not involved in the set-up of the new guidelines and then they also said their input were not included properly in the guidelines. Many of the members are not really sure what they and the other two bodies are actually saying.
"And now this court move. We are very concerned with the way the three bodies are taking this form of action without referring the matter first to the members to seek their views. At the recent AGM of MACP last week, all our efforts to seek clarification were ignored. Ultimately the new MyIPO guidelines are the best for the all those in the music industry. There is nothing else to it," said Cheb.
Meanwhile, Freddie also added: 'We need the government and the courts to be aware that the majority of the 8,000 artistes and composers who are members of these organisations do not support this court action against these government guidelines.
"We stand firmly behind the KPDN Minister and MyIpo in this matter. Once these guidelines are implemented this sort of unilateral action by the management of the CMO's will hopefully no longer be possible and we can look forward to greater accountability and transparency from all CMO's in the future."