In early February, TFR reported a plagiarism case involving singer-songwriter Pamungkas and French artist Baptiste Virot regarding the heavy resemblance between the cover of Pamungkas’ Solipsism 2.0 album and Virot’s artwork. Although TFR obtained a statement from Virot through our writer, the artist wished to remain private regarding the matter. A few days later, Pamungkas issued a clarification and apology on his social media. Until today, the singer and his record label have not returned our request for comments.

The saga continues. Last week, visual artist Nicole Imania published her story to social media that caused uproar. She revealed that Pamungkas contacted her, asking for visual reference for his upcoming album Solipsism 2.0. Being honoured to have been entrusted with such a task, Nicole provided reference of artworks, carefully crediting each artist she mentioned. After exchanging thoughts and conversations, Pamungkas thanked Nicole for her input. The two did not speak until the release of the album cover. 

Little did Nicole know, the album cover consisted of a collage of the artworks that Nicole shared with Pamungkas. A first version of the album cover even included some of Nicole’s own artwork. When asked via Instagram story, Pamungkas mentioned that the inspiration behind the album cover was from his music only and did not mention that he was not alone in the design process. 

“The creative industry has a notorious reputation of being one of the most disrespectful, cruel and cold-hearted industries to work in. My silence would be normalising this behaviour and feeding into the growing toxic ego of the creative industry. No matter how small you chipped into something, you're still entitled to it. Even if it was a reference. Ideas are expensive. You should definitely be recognised and acknowledged,” Nicole stated.

Having actually provided reference, Nicole hoped that Pamungkas would at least recognise that he was not alone in the process of designing the album cover. She also told TFR that she is not interested in any economic compensation.

“I simply want Pam to acknowledge that he did not come up with the album cover alone. My reference gave him a visual direction— a tangible way of representing the saturated and cheery tones of his new album. So, simply put, it didn't come solely from the music. His apology video addresses the concerns on plagiarism, but it doesn't address the controversial Instagram story, where he claimed his music is the only thing that inspired the album artwork,” she explained.

While not necessarily regulated, there comes a question of best practices of whether to give credit to those who contributed to a creative project, from beginning to end - and that includes the brainstorming and inspiration stage. 

After Nicole brought this topic to light, Pamungkas’ team decided to remove her artwork from the album design, replacing it with a black patch. The remaining artists whose artwork is featured on the album cover have been properly compensated. 

“It just goes to show that there's a low level of respect for me as a creator here. If legal action is what can amplify my voice, so be it,” said Nicole.

Pamungkas is represented by Maspam Record. TFR has contacted both Pamungkas and Maspam Record for comments, but neither have yet responded to us. 

Disclaimer: Nicole Franyo has been a TFR writer since 2020. The article is meant to present the case from both sides in a neutral manner. Our purpose is to inform the audience and provide facts objectively.