Royalties Collection and Management on Digital Music Platforms Will be Regulated

JAKARTA: The Indonesian Government will soon regulate the collection and distribution of royalties from digital music platforms in response to the music industry's rapid development in today's digital era. The regulation will be in the form of a Minister of Law and Human Rights Regulation or a Government Regulation.

The Government has discussed in managing the royalties from digital music platforms with stakeholders such as the National Collective Management Institute (LMKN), the Collective Management Institute (LMK), musicians, creators, copyright holders, and producers.

In a recent meeting, the Directorate General of Intellectual Property, Ministry of Law and Human Rights (DJKI) listened to the musicians' complaints.

These stakeholders have long complained about the unclear management of creators' economic rights, causing a long polemic. In the meeting that was also attended by the Deputy Minister of Law and Human Rights, the Directorate General of Intellectual Property, together with related stakeholders, they agreed to regulate the collection and distribution of digital music royalties.

Waskito, a representative of the Indonesian Dangdut Artist Association, said that the current problem in practice is the unclear regulation and transparency of royalty distribution. This is caused by the absence of regulations regarding the amount of royalties collection, and the distribution from listeners/users of digital music platforms. 

Freddy Harris, Director General of Intellectual Property at the Ministry of Law and Human Rights, agreed to form a dedicated team consists of stakeholders to resolve the issue. Through an inventory of existing problems, the Government can develop the regulations to answer the developing problems.

According to Freddy, one of the weaknesses in the royalties' collection and distribution to users is due to the absence of a music data centre (database) that can be used as a reference for collecting royalties. Freddy added that the Directorate General of Intellectual Property had initially planned to build a data centre (database) for Indonesian music. However, the plan has not yet been implemented because DGIP has to divert the budget in handling the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, Deputy Minister of Law and Human Rights, Prof. Edward Omar Sharif Hiariej, agreed that a dedicated team should be formed to make an inventory of the problems encountered by musicians in Indonesia.

"We will start by making an inventory of the problems we are currently facing. The substance certainly needs input from the musicians. At a later stage, we will look into the problems that exist and identify all the pros and cons. The results should give full protection for the creators and producers".

The development of the digital era today has impacted changing people's behavior from various sectors of life, one of which is the music industry. The emergence of digital music platforms that the public has widely enjoyed has created a change in the world music industry's order today.

It is hoped that the development of regulations that will organize and manage digital music platforms that protect creators and copyright holders' economic rights, is not expected to curb people who want to work through the digital music platforms. Many digital platform users, such as Tiktok and Youtube, are more famous and can significantly earn more than the original song creators or copyright holders. If things like this are not adequately considered, it will weaken the creators and related parties' rights, including their economic rights.

Therefore, clear regulations that will provide legal certainty must be carefully considered. Utilizing the existing policy instruments, including the LMKN also has to be considered, considering that the royalties' collecting and distributing activities is mandated to LMKN. If the activities supported by adequate regulations, it will provide maximum benefits for creators, copyright holders and related right owners. (bcs/gar/su)

For further inquiries on this topic, please feel free to contact Mr. Bredipta C. Socarana at bhredipta.Socarana@kk-advocates.com and Mr. Garindra H. Kusuma at garindra.kusuma@kk-advocates.com.

(Tulisan di atas adalah merupakan artikel dan tidak dapat dianggap sebagai advis atau opini hukum dari penulis dan/atau kantor hukum K&K Advocates).

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