Indonesia Moves to Improve Music Royalty Management System

RRI.CO.ID, Jakarta - Indonesian Law Minister Supratman Andi Agtas emphasized that the government will not tolerate the payment of music royalties to parties who do not hold the rights.

He said the government is implementing improvements to royalty governance to ensure songwriters’ rights are protected, and royalties are distributed appropriately.

“For the Ministry of Law, DJKI (Directorate General of Intellectual Property), LMKN (National Collective Management Institution), and LMK (Collective Management Institutions), the most important thing is ensuring that royalties are paid to those who are entitled. As long as I am Minister of Law, I will not tolerate royalty payments to parties who are not entitled,” Supratman said during his remarks at the PASTI Ada Solusi program at Graha Pengayoman, Jakarta, on Friday, September 11, 2026.

He said one of the challenges in royalty distribution is incomplete data on members of Collective Management Institutions (LMK). Complete and verifiable data, he added, are necessary to ensure accurate distribution and prevent creators’ or copyright holders’ rights from being appropriated by others.

“If an LMK proposes royalty distribution for thousands of members, their data must be complete and verifiable. I do not want anyone’s rights taken by another party due to unclear data,” he said.

Supratman noted that some LMKs have not yet submitted member data or registered their musical works in the DJKI system. The data will later be integrated into PDLM (Music and Song Data Repository) and SILM (Music and Song Information System), which are managed by LMKN, to support accurate and transparent royalty distribution.

He assured that the royalty funds currently managed by LMKN remain secure. The government has also requested strict audits to ensure transparency in royalty management and distribution.

“The government is encouraging the use of technology in royalty management so that digital and analog music usage can be monitored accurately. We want a system capable of monitoring music usage in real time so that distribution becomes more transparent and precise,” Minister Supratman said.

Earlier, representatives of the dangdut community, Dadang S, expressed concerns about songwriter protection and royalty payments for community performances.

He said the dangdut community needs to be involved in discussions on royalty policy because the genre is part of Indonesia’s cultural identity.

“Dangdut has become a global music genre, but we feel we do not have enough channels to express our aspirations. There are no dangdut community representatives in forums discussing these issues,” Dadang said.

Director General of Intellectual Property, Hermansyah Siregar, urged song owners to immediately register their works through DJKI’s copyright service. He said registration has been free since August 1, 2026, to complete national music copyright ownership data.

“We have made music and song copyright registration free since August 1, 2026. We hope copyright owners and holders will use this facility to complete their data and strengthen the national music ecosystem,” Hermansyah said. (Misni Parjiati)