On 5 February 2018, the Minister of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism, YB Dato’ Seri Hamzah Zainudin, officiated the launch of Music Rights Malaysia Bhd (MRM) as the sole licensing body for collective music royalty collection activities in Malaysia.

At the initiative of the Government, MRM was formed by four existing music licensing bodies namely Music Authors’ Copyright Protection (MACP) Bhd, Public Performance Malaysia Sdn Bhd (PPM), Recording Performers Malaysia Berhad (RPM) and Performers Rights and Interest Society of Malaysia Berhad (PRISM) with a mission to achieve fair value for music.

Effective with retrospective effect from 1st January 2017, MRM will be the one stop centre to issue copyright music licence for all related public performances, broadcasting, commercial rental and reproduction for any as yet unlicensed music use and moving forward.

It is a long-waited solution for commercial users, copyright holders and the Government for the usage of copyright music in Malaysia.

If music is played in public places without a licence from MRM, premise owners and/or event organizers may be liable for civil and criminal copyright infringement under the Copyright Act 1987. Music users may also refer to the Copyright Tribunal if any licensing scheme dispute arises.

The MRM Board of Director is chaired by YABhg Tun Dato’ Seri Zaki bin Tun Azmi and made up of representatives of the existing licensing bodies. These bodies will then distribute royalties collected by MRM to their respective members comprising composers, lyricist, artist and musicians as well as music publishers and recording companies.

The launch was attended by representatives from MDTCC, Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO), major commercial music user associations in Malaysia as well as music industry personalities.

For MACP members that are interested to receive a copy of the above Minutes, please email your request to general@macp.com.my