RPM members to receive royalty payments beginning Friday

PUTRAJAYA: Members of Recording Performers Malaysia Bhd (RPM) and Performers’ Rights and Interest Society of Malaysia (PRISM) Berhad will receive an initial payment of RM500 per person from the total outstanding royalties involving RM11.7 million, beginning this Friday (Jan 29).

Deputy Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Rosol Wahid said RPM, a music royalty collection licensing body and the Malaysian Department of Insolvency (MDI) as liquidators to the governance of PRISM had agreed to implement royalty distribution in advance payments through Unlogged Performance Allocation (UPA).

He said the total outstanding royalty distribution amounting to RM11,788,347.18, which had been in arrears since 2018 will be partially distributed through the UPA to eligible 1,134 RPM and 396 PRISM members, respectively.

“The following payment would be given based on music usage report and is expected to be completed by April this year,” he said in a press conference here today.

“We will distribute the payments as soon as possible. Those eligible to receive the royalty need to submit documents for the verification process as the payment will be based on the number of performances made,” he added.

Meanwhile, Rosol said the UPA payment agreement was the result of joint action by the ministry and the Malaysian Intellectual Property Corporation (MyIPO) as the mediator and facilitator of the distribution of royalties crisis for recording artists.

It also the result of the collaboration between MDI, PRISM, MRM Caretaker Management Committee and PRISM Performers Verification & Claims Committee (PPVCC).

Those who are not in the list of members eligible to receive the distribution of royalty are requested to contact MDI Kuala Lumpur at 03-2618 3000 (ext 2246) to submit relevant documents for review and verification.

-- BERNAMA