5 Jakarta karaoke clubs have been implicated in a racket to illegally download and compile pirated music videos for display in karaoke music clubs in the capital. The clubs are owned by some well-known personalities. A criminal copyright raid was conducted in Tanggerang west of Jakarta on the content supplier to some 75 karaoke clubs The police seized computers, laptops, DVDs and various documents and one arrest was made. News reports suggest this is a longstanding practice, with this supplier in operation since 2008, and that the clubs purchased the music videos each month, so the supplier essentially earned all its money from piracy.
The detainee is to be charged with distribution under the copyright law and possibly money laundering. The case was initiated after a rock musician Moldy from Indonesian guitar band Radja reported the misuse of his songs and videos. He claimed that his record label was cutting his earnings due to the prevalence of pirated music taking away sales. An attempt to discuss the matter with the clubs did not succeed so a complaint was filed at with MABES, the national police in January.
Although the supplier is the primary infringer the karaoke clubs were implicated as secondary infringers. The 5 karaoke clubs involved are high profile and have agreements with the supplier which may be material.
Copyright piracy is one of the only areas of IP that sees any enforcement in Indonesia, mainly at the behest of the strong local music industry.
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