Music Authors’ Copyright Protection Bhd is seeking clarification from the courts on the authority of the copyright tribunal to hear and decide a royalties dispute brought by Syrian-born singer-songwriter Abdulkarim Al Ali.
In a statement today, the music rights body said until a ruling is made, it would reserve its rights while continuing to engage with the process “in good faith”.
Last month, the tribunal directed MACP to account for and pay royalties to Abdulkarim, co-author of the Malay-Arabic fusion song “Casablanca”, and to regularise payments to his fellow composers Daqmie and Wan Salleh.
MACP said it commended the tribunal’s initiative in establishing minimum standards for collective management organisation administration, “but it ought to be within their scope of authority”.
It said the tribunal’s orders merely reflected existing practices, and that MACP members already receive detailed royalty reports, have access to adjustments for errors, benefit from seven annual royalty distribution cycles and can also request audits where justified.
MACP dismissed suggestions that Abdulkarim had been denied royalties. It said all payments due had either been processed or had been made.
