Ministry of Law: Strengthening Regulation to Ensure Sustainable Music Industry
Jakarta – Indonesia’s Ministry of Law has reaffirmed that strengthening regulation is a critical step to ensure a fair and sustainable music industry ecosystem.
Hermansyah Siregar, the ministry’s Director-General of Intellectual Property, stated that the Copyright Law, last enacted in 2014, requires updating to adapt to developments in technology and the arts.
“Parliament and the Directorate-General of Intellectual Property are currently revising the Copyright Law to address the dynamics of the creative industries, including developments in digital music distribution,” Hermansyah said in a statement confirmed in Jakarta on Monday.
The objective, he explained, is to ensure that creators, copyright holders, related rights holders, and especially users of creative works have legal certainty in the increasingly developed music ecosystem.
Marking National Music Day on 9 March 2026, he reaffirmed optimism about the future of Indonesia’s music industry. Beyond appreciating musicians who have penetrated global markets, Hermansyah said the optimism is driven by various efforts to strengthen the copyright system, including discussions on revising the Copyright Law with parliament and the government’s efforts to advocate for fairness in digital music royalties on international platforms.
Indonesia continues to push global discussion regarding equitable royalties in the exploitation of music works on international digital platforms. This is important so that Indonesian creators can obtain proportional economic benefits from the exploitation of their works globally.
The Ministry of Law and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are currently preparing element papers—documents prepared for subsequent meetings at international forums with other countries to discuss Indonesia’s proposal on royalty equity.
Meanwhile, Agung Damarsasongko, the ministry’s Director of Copyright and Industrial Design, explained that Indonesia’s music royalty management system is being continuously strengthened through more transparent and integrated collective management mechanisms.
The government is also enhancing the Music Data Centre, which will serve as the basis for real-time royalty collection from music users. The Directorate-General of Intellectual Property has proposed bundling tariffs for recording copyrights on songs or music to encourage more musicians to register their work, thereby making the Music Data Centre metadata more complete.
“This system is built to ensure royalty collection and distribution can run more efficiently and provide certainty for all parties,” Agung said.
The National Collective Management Institution continues to manage royalty collection and distribution from various music usage sectors, including live performances, karaoke, and music exploitation on digital platforms and internationally. Royalty distribution reaches thousands of creators and rights holders based on identified song usage data.
The National Collective Management Institution has also announced that there remains unclaimed royalty valued at 33.02 billion rupiah, highlighting the importance for creators, copyright holders, and related rights holders to ensure their works are registered and included in collective management institutions so their economic rights can be optimally distributed.
Agung estimated that the potential for music royalty collection in Indonesia will continue to increase, in line with growing public awareness of the importance of appreciating creative works. He urged the public to enjoy music legally as a mark of respect for creators’ work, emphasising that choosing official platforms and paying royalties through applicable mechanisms is part of building a healthy creative ecosystem.
“Enjoying music legally through legitimate platforms is a tangible form of support for creators and related rights holders,” Agung said. By respecting work through royalty payments, he added, all parties ensure Indonesian musicians can continue creating and contributing to the development of national culture and the creative economy.