KUALA LUMPUR: Composer Mohd Rafi Shafie has described the leadership of Recording Performers Malaysia (RPM) as "clueless" in handling the distribution of royalties to musicians.
The 51-year-old member of Persatuan Karyawan Malaysia (Karyawan) said that RPM chairman Datuk Sheila Majid and its board of directors ought to "make way for a new team" that was more sensitive to the needs of members.
In an online interview today, Mohd Rafi said that the collection of royalties by RPM was actually done by a third party, and Sheila's team had failed to explain this to musicians.
He said that Public Performance Malaysia (PPM) collected royalties on behalf of recording companies until 2018, when Music Rights Malaysia (MRM) took over on behalf of four music licensing bodies namely Music Authors' Copyright Protection (MACP), PPM, RPM and Performers' Rights and Interest Society of Malaysia (Prism).
MRM handled collection only, and each organisation including RPM had to manage the distribution process on behalf of members.
"Of the RM140 million collected by MRM from 2017 to 2019, RM30 million was allocated to RPM and Prism, and when Prism ceased operations in 2018, its royalties were channelled to RPM.
"Unfortunately, the RPM team did not know how to distribute the royalties properly," said Mohd Rafi, adding that RPM had RM26 million in the bank.
Mohd Rafi said that the board's distribution of Unlogged Performance Allocations (UPA) worth RM2.9 million to members who registered before January 2020 was aimed at "silencing" those who complained about their poor leadership.
"The board recently distributed UPA for 2018, 2019 and 2020, but I don't understand why they did so three years late."
Mohd Rafi lamented that Sheila had blamed the Covid-19 pandemic and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission's (MACC) investigations on MACP, PPM and RPM late last year for the delay in distributing royalties.
"MACP successfully distributed royalties to members two months ago in a transparent manner. MACP and PPM have many staff members to do the job, but from what I have learnt, RPM is understaffed."
Mohd Rafi said that he would do his best if members elected him as the new chairman or board member in the next annual general meeting on Monday.
Yesterday, Sheila said that she was doing her best for RPM members, but they were free to decide if they wanted her team to be replaced.