Indonesia’s Directorate General of Intellectual Property (DJKI) has waived copyright registration fees for songs and music, effective from 1 August.
By adjusting non-tax state revenue rates, the DJKI has reduced the copyright registration fee for songs and musical works from Rp200,000 (approximately $11) to zero. Fees for other types of copyrighted work remain unchanged.
In the same move, the DJKI has raised fees for trademark services by between 40% and 57%. The fee for replacing a national trademark with an international trademark has increased by 180%.
Patent-related fees have not changed.
The policy is not intended to give “preferential treatment” to a particular type of work, nor imply that the government is focusing less on other types of work, the DJKI clarified.
The fee waiver is “a state investment” that seeks to encourage rights holders such as songwriters, musicians and producers to register their works with the Song and Music Data Centre (PDLM) and build “a more comprehensive national music database”, explained DJKI director general Hermansyah Siregar.
The data will be integrated with the information system of the National Collective Management Organisation (LMKN), which collects royalties for the commercial use of music in public spaces, in order to support more accurate royalty distribution.
“The more works that are registered, the stronger the database becomes as a foundation for copyright protection and fair, transparent and accountable royalty distribution for creators, performers and related rights holders,” Siregar explained.
The DJKI estimates that less than 0.4% of Indonesian songs and musical works (26,000 of an estimated 7 million) are recorded with the Song and Music Data Centre.
The new policy addresses “a longstanding practical challenge” and acts as “a positive step towards strengthening the data infrastructure that supports licensing, royalty administration and, where necessary, enforcement”, says Lukman Hakim Basir, senior associate at Suryomurcito & Co, a Rouse network firm.
By removing the cost barrier for copyright registration, the policy primarily benefits local copyright owners and encourages them to actively record their musical works, Basir predicts. This will improve the national database’s completeness and accuracy.
“This policy is likely to have a greater impact on Indonesian composers, songwriters, and other domestic copyright owners,” Basir says.
However, the fee waiver is “mainly an administrative measure rather than a fundamental change to Indonesia’s copyright landscape”, Basir notes. It “will not, by itself, resolve the broader issues surrounding music royalty collection and distribution”, he warns.
In addition, foreign rights holders are likely to find “limited” practical benefits from the new policy, says Basir. “They generally already maintain comprehensive ownership records through their own rights management systems and already benefit from copyright protection in Indonesia,” he explains.
Ownership records are not “a significant challenge” for foreign copyright owners, Basir continues. Rights management systems and ownership records “are typically sufficient to establish ownership when enforcing their rights in Indonesia” and can “facilitate royalty administration through the relevant collective management organisations”, he explains.
Nevertheless, if the national database becomes an important reference point for royalty administration, foreign rights holders may choose to record more commercially valuable works in Indonesia, Basir says.
The challenges lie in the practical aspects of enforcement. “While Indonesia has continued to strengthen its IP enforcement framework, rights holders may still face procedural complexities and lengthy enforcement processes, particularly where court proceedings or criminal enforcement are involved,” Basir says.
This article was first published on WTR in July 2026.
