The world of social media has recently been enlivened by accusations of plagiarism made by Indonesian rapper Young Lex by Kpop fans (kpopers). The reason is, Young Lex’s “The Last King” music video is said to be similar in terms of visuals, style, and choreography to the music video belonging to Lay, a member of the South Korean boy band EXO, entitled “Lit” which has been released since June 2020. Kpopers were further infuriated when no credit for Lay or his agency was found in the description of the “Last King” music video.
Copyright at a glance
A music video can contain songs, choreography, pictures and others. Therefore, music videos can be classified as copyrighted works called cinematography. Cinematographic works are defined as creations in the form of moving images, including documentary films, advertising films, reportage, or story films made with scenarios, and cartoon films. The definition is taken from the explanation of Article 40 Paragraph 1 letter m of Law No. 28 of 2014 on Copyright (HC Law). As a creation, cinematographic works are automatically protected by copyright. Copyright is an exclusive right consisting of moral rights and economic rights. Moral rights are only owned by the creator as mentioned in Article 5 of the HC Law. While economic rights can be owned by creators and copyright holders. In economic rights, the creator or copyright holder is allowed to adapt, arrange, or transform the creation (Article 9 Paragraph 1 letter d). Adaptation is the transformation of a work into another form, such as a book into a movie. Arrangement is the adjustment of a musical composition with a singer’s voice or other instruments based on an existing composition and does not change its essence. While transformation is changing the format of a work into another form, such as pop music into dangdut music. The results of creations that have been adapted, arranged, or transformed are also protected by copyright (Article 40 Paragraph 2 of the HC Law).
Young Lex’s Plagiarism Polemic
Therefore, if Young Lex intends to adapt, arrange, or transform the work of Lay EXO, this is allowed under Indonesian law. However, those who do so must obtain permission from the creator or copyright holder of the original work (Article 9 Paragraph 2 of the HC Law). The permission is in the form of a license, which is a written permission granted by the copyright holder to another party to exercise economic rights over his or her work under certain conditions. For people who carry out modifications of other people’s works without permission and are used commercially, this is not allowed and if violated, the person can be sued for compensation by the creator and copyright holder or can be sentenced to imprisonment for a maximum of 3 years and / or a maximum fine of Rp. 500 million. Reportedly, the “Last King” music video has been taken down. Young Lex has also clarified that he was only involved as a songwriter and was not involved in the creative process of the music video production. Meanwhile, the music video production team has apologized to the public via Instagram and admitted that Lay EXO’s music video was indeed one of the sources of inspiration in the process of making Young Lex’s music video.
KH Contact
From this story, it is very important for KH Pals to understand the applicable legal provisions related to copyright. Do not let something similar happen and prevent plagiarism by registering the copyright of your work with the Ministry of Law and Human Rights. If you don’t know how to do this, Kontrak Hukum can help. Please contact us via the Ask KH link or send a message via Instagram @kontrakhukum. Read also:
- Want to Avoid Copyright Disputes? Apply for Your Copyright Registration Now with Contract Law!
- Must Know, This Includes Copyright and Needs to be Recorded!
