Jakarta – The Ministry of Law held an open meeting between the Minister of Law and members of Indonesia's music industry to discuss reforms to the country's royalty governance system on Friday (October 31, 2025).
The discussion brought together songwriters, composers, singers, representatives from collective management organizations (LMK), the National Collective Management Agency (LMKN), national artists, relevant ministries, and media representatives.
Minister of Law Supratman Andi Agtas emphasized that improving royalty governance requires collaboration among all stakeholders, grounded in principles of fairness and transparency.
"When it comes to royalties, the Ministry, stakeholders, and our musicians must come together and speak openly from the heart. The Ministry of Law needs to listen to the voices of the musicians here today," Supratman said during the discussion at the Ministry's office.
He explained that a transparent royalty system is key to sustaining creativity within the music industry. With strong legal protection and fair economic value, creative works can continue to grow and enrich the nation's cultural landscape.
"The problem doesn't lie with the industry or the creators—it's with the ecosystem that manages royalties. That's why we all have a responsibility to fix the system," he said.
Minister Supratman also ensured that LMKN and LMK will now operate under a more transparent system. Under the new arrangement, the authority to collect and distribute royalties has been separated. LMKN is responsible for the collection, but it cannot distribute to rights holders directly.
"President Prabowo has made it clear that there must be zero tolerance for misuse or taking what belongs to others. We are creating a check-and-balance system between LMKN and LMK to ensure transparency," he explained.
The Minister also encouraged LMK to publish their financial reports regularly and urged creators to authorize the distribution of their royalties only through responsible organizations.
During the session, several music industry figures expressed appreciation for the Ministry's initiative. Erens, a songwriter, supported the Minister's initiative for greater transparency through regular audits of LMK and suggested that the government set fairer copyright registration fees for local songwriters.
Armand Maulana, one of Indonesia's prominent musicians, also welcomed the open discussion, calling it the first of its kind in many years of royalty disputes. He expressed his support for the Ministry's commitment to improving transparency in royalty management.
Meanwhile, Dharma Oratmangun, an Indonesian musician and former head of KCI and LMKN, voiced his support for the government's plan to streamline royalty collection through a one-gate system managed by LMKN.
"We fully support the effort to reform royalty collection, especially in the digital sector. The digital royalty system must operate through LMKN as a single, centralized channel," said Dharma, who was joined by Yessi Kurniawan (LMK SELMI), Henry Noya (LMK PROINTIM), Yuke NS (LMK TRI), and other music industry representatives.
