Indonesia will stop charging songwriters, performers, and record producers to log their work on the national copyright register.
From August 1, 2026, the fee to record a song or musical composition drops from 200,000 rupiah (approx. USD $11) to Rp0.
The change was announced by the Directorate General of Intellectual Property (DJKI), part of Indonesia’s Ministry of Law, and applies only to songs and music. Registration fees for other categories of creative work are unchanged.
The zero tariff is contained in Government Regulation No. 30 of 2026, which covers the state’s non-tax revenue (PNBP) at the Ministry of Law. The regulation was signed by President Prabowo Subianto on July 2, 2026.
DJKI is framing the move as a way to populate a national database of songs and music, the Pusat Data Lagu dan/atau Musik (PDLM), that will underpin royalty distribution.
“The registration fee waiver for songs and/or music is a state investment to build a more complete national music database,” said Hermansyah Siregar, Director General of Intellectual Property, in a statement translated from Indonesian.
“The registration fee waiver for songs and/or music is a state investment to build a more complete national music database.”
Hermansyah Siregar, DIRECTOR General of Intellectual Property
“The more works that are registered, the stronger the database becomes as a foundation for copyright protection and for royalty governance that is fair, transparent, and accountable for creators, performers, and related rights holders.”
The gap the policy is meant to close is a wide one. DJKI estimates Indonesia has around 7 million songs and musical works, of which only about 26,000 are logged in the PDLM.
That 26,000 is drawn from just two of Indonesia’s 17 collecting societies, with the other 15 still to be onboarded.
That shortfall, the agency said, can obstruct the identification of who owns a right and the routing of royalties to the people entitled to them.
The registered data is to be integrated with SILM, the information system of Lembaga Manajemen Kolektif Nasional (LMKN), Indonesia’s national collective management body, so that payments reach the correct recipients.
Recording is handled electronically through a service called POP HC (Persetujuan Otomatis Pencatatan Hak Cipta), or Automatic Approval of Copyright Recording.
Siregar said the waiver does not signal any downgrading of protection for other kinds of work, from books and writing to photography, computer programs, visual art and film.
“This is a manifestation of the government’s seriousness in building a comprehensive national database for songs and music as a foundation for royalty governance,” he said.
“Therefore, the government is presenting this affirmative policy without reducing its commitment to protecting all types of creative work.”
“This is a manifestation of the government’s seriousness in building a comprehensive national database for songs and music as a foundation for royalty governance.”
Hermansyah Siregar, DIRECTOR General of Intellectual Property
Siregar credited Yovie Widianto, the songwriter and producer who serves as Presidential Special Staff for Creative Economy, with brokering the policy, saying Widianto helped open a channel to the Finance Ministry so alternatives could be weighed.
The fee waiver arrives as Indonesia moves on a wider overhaul of its copyright regime. The same directorate, under the same Director General, is preparing a rewrite of the country’s copyright law that would bar AI-generated mimicry of a creator’s ‘distinctive style’ and make platforms compensate news publishers for reusing their journalism, with the resulting payments distributed by government-overseen collecting societies
Indonesia is one of Southeast Asia’s largest music markets and the world’s fourth most populous country. Warner Music Group described it as a fast-growing market that had historically been held back by piracy when it acquired the catalog of local independent ISS in 2016.
The market’s global profile has since grown through acts such as NIKI and Rich Brian, both Jakarta-born artists signed to 88rising, the label built around Asian and Asian-American talent.
In early 2025, the IFPI made Indonesia one of six markets in a regional charts hub, The Official Southeast Asia Charts, alongside Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
DJKI is urging creators and industry participants to register their works under the new tariff, arguing that a fuller database strengthens both legal protection and the royalty system that supports Indonesia‘s creative economy.Music Business Worldwide
