Image Credit: THE STAR
Malaysian musicians and those working in the music industry are left perplexed by the decision of three royalty collection bodies, or Collective Management Organisations (CMO), to take the government to court to oppose new guidelines set by the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living and the Intellectual Property Organisation of Malaysia. 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 organizations. 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 have taken to the courts in their attempt to obstruct the implementation of the new guidelines. 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 (MACP), Recording Performers Malaysia (RPM), and Public Performance Malaysia (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. They also added that the new CMO Guidelines of 2025 could negatively impact copyright holders, having been published without their consultation. 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 stated that 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.
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. Music director and video specialist Cheb Ali also said that the new guidelines are the right move for all those in the industry.
Freddie also added 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. He stood 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.
