Gaining Trust, WAMI Records Surge in Royalties and Concerts in 2024 - Continues to Strive to Improve Systems to Accommodate Song Creators' Rights

With this addition, the number of WAMI members has now reached more than 6,000 people. In addition, WAMI has also expanded cooperation with dozens of music publishers and international parties. "We can’t avoid international parties because foreign songs are also played in Indonesia, whether they are from America or Korea. Well, we collect foreign songs to then distribute them there," said Adi.

WAMI not only collects royalties from foreign songs played in Indonesia, but also ensures that Indonesian songs played abroad receive their rights. One of their major achievements is receiving billions of rupiah from the performing rights of Indonesian songs in Malaysia.

One significant improvement achieved by WAMI in 2024 is the number of concerts from which royalties have been successfully collected. Compared to 2023, which only recorded about 200 concerts, in 2024 the number drastically increased to around 1,000 concerts. "In 2023 we could only collect royalties from about 200 concerts, but in 2024 we managed to reach about 1,000 concerts," said Adi.

However, WAMI continues to strive to improve their system to work more effectively in managing the rights of song creators. "We are still a work in progress, continuously adjusting and making improvements according to the applicable regulations. As an organization that manages the rights of many people, it must be wise and careful," said Makki, the bassist of Ungu who is also a WAMI administrator.

One of the major challenges still faced by WAMI is perfecting the database of song creators and their works. "In order for WAMI's work to be perfect, a database is definitely needed. To be honest, we are still not perfect because from that database we know who is entitled to receive their rights," said Makki.

In addition to achievements, WAMI also has to face issues with promoters who do not pay royalties for the music they use. To address this, WAMI has built a concert monitoring system throughout Indonesia by monitoring various social media accounts of promoters, artists, and other showbiz agendas. "We have built a team to monitor what concerts are happening in Indonesia, starting with searching for their IG, then looking for the promoters, then searching for other showbiz agenda IGs, and then following the artists. There are 10,000 that are monitored, 5,000 that respond, but those who pay are 1,000," explained Adi.

There are still about 4,000 concerts that have not paid royalties. WAMI has also prepared legal steps to take action against promoters who do not fulfill their obligations. "By the end of 2024, we will have a legal team. We can't let this go, we have to find a place to report, where? To law enforcement. Please enforce the regulations, so they will want to pay and not have to go through legal processes," said Adi.

Nevertheless, Adi emphasized that the main goal of these legal steps is not to imprison promoters, but to raise their awareness of the importance of paying royalties to song creators. "The goal is not to send them to jail but for them to understand the importance of paying," he said.