KOTA KINABALU: Sabah is taking steps to protect its indigenous artistes’ compensation rights over licensing and royalty distribution for all ethnic songs in the state and in Labuan.

       Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Dr Jeffrey Kitingan said the state would prepare a Cabinet paper to endorse Music Rights Sabah Bhd (MRS) to become a licensing agency to protect the rights of ethnic artistes to ensure they get fair compensation, among others.

       He claimed that the Copyright Act had never been implemented fairly for Sabah’s ethnic songs in the past 35 years.

       “For example, a musician revealed that last year he only received RM13.57 for one of his hit songs. A Peninsular Malaysian artiste would have received at least RM200.

       “It is no surprise then that our most gifted artistes are flocking to the peninsula since they can earn a higher price for their music there,” said Kitingan, who met with MRS board members led by its managing director Asmin Mudin last Friday.

       In a statement, Kitingan said local artistes had long been neglected and their efforts in producing high quality and entertaining ethnic music had not received adequate support in the past 35 years.

       MRS is hoping to get Sabah’s endorsement as a licensing body to protect the rights of these ethnic artistes.

       Kitingan agreed that there was an urgent need to protect such rights through licensing and royalty distribution for all ethnic songs in the Sabah region and in Labuan.