Indonesia Leads Global Efforts for Fair Digital Royalties

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian government has formally submitted its proposal for a Legally Binding International Instrument on Copyright Royalty Governance in the Digital Environment to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The move, announced in a press release received by Tempo from the Ministry of Law and Human Rights on Wednesday, December 3, 2025, marks a strategic effort to advance fairness in global digital royalty governance.

As cited in the press release, the proposal will be presented and discussed at the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) meeting of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), held from December 1 to 5, 2025, in Geneva, Switzerland. The session is attended by 194 WIPO Member States.

This initiative is said to be driven by the rapid growth of the global creative industry, now valued at more than US$2.3 trillion per year, with over 67 percent of the global music market dominated by streaming services. However, this growth has not translated into improved welfare for creators, as much of the digital economic value has not been fairly received by the authors of the works.

The Indonesian Delegation is chaired directly by Indonesia’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arief Havas Oegroseno, and the Director General of Intellectual Property of the Ministry of Law, Hermansyah Siregar. In addition, the Head of the Legal Policy Strategy Agency, Andry Indrady, is attending the session to strengthen content related to Indonesia’s proposal on music and media royalties.

The initiative was originally conceived by the Minister of Law, Supratman Andi Agtas, in May 2025 and has begun to gain momentum at this December SCCR session. On the sidelines of the meeting, Indonesia is holding bilateral consultations with the regional group GRULAC (Latin America and the Caribbean), Japan and the United States.

“Often, creators receive only a small fraction of the revenue generated from their own works. This reality is not merely an economic issue — it is a matter of justice, fairness, and moral recognition. Therefore, Indonesia calls for renewed commitment and collective action,” emphasized Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Arief Havas Oegroseno, Head of the Indonesian Delegation at the SCCR meeting.

According to him, the submission of this proposal represents the state’s responsibility to uphold the economic rights of creators at the global level, not only domestically. He also noted that this proposal for a legally binding international instrument responds to widening structural inequalities within the global digital royalty ecosystem.

Each year, the estimation based on UNESCO and the World Bank data showcases that US$55.5 billion in music and audiovisual revenue evaporate — meaning, the royalties that are never collected, never recorded, and never received by their creators.

“A fair and equitable royalty system must uphold the dignity of all creators, regardless of geographic location or market size. Fairness, in turn, requires transparency, so creators can understand how their royalties are calculated, distributed, and reported,” Havas said.

Minister of Law Supratman Andi Agtas, the initiator of the proposal, added that these inequalities stem from the strong dominance of global digital platforms in determining the economic value of works. Platforms control recommendation algorithms, licensing models, metadata standards, and revenue reporting systems. The Indonesian government identifies four main structural issues: fragmented metadata, reliance on unfair royalty-sharing models, cross-country disparities in royalty valuation, and non-transparent distribution governance.

“In the digital ecosystem, whoever controls the data controls the value. This is the root of today’s global royalty problem,” Supratman explained.

To address these issues, Indonesia proposes a new architecture for global royalty governance that is robust, operational, and technical, built upon three main pillars. These pillars include:

1. global standardization of phonogram and audiovisual metadata;

2. mandatory transparency in cross-border licensing, usage, and royalty distribution; and

3. the creation of an oversight and accountability mechanism through international audits.

These three pillars aim to ensure that no work is ever “lost” in the system and that every use of a work is accurately recorded with clear economic value.

To ensure the effectiveness of these mechanisms, Indonesia stresses that the instrument must be legally binding. Soft-law approaches are deemed insufficient to address the power imbalances between states and major digital platforms. A binding instrument is needed to guarantee cross-country consistency and strengthen the legal standing of developing countries in protecting their economic rights.

“Without legal obligations and enforceable sanctions, transparency will remain a mere moral commitment without force,” Supratman said.

The success of this proposal is expected to deliver direct and significant benefits to all creators worldwide, including those in Indonesia. Creators will gain access to global data on the use of their works, identify countries with the highest consumption, understand the true economic value of every utilization of their works, and receive royalties that have long gone undistributed. Indonesia’s music and audiovisual sectors could potentially see economic gains amounting to trillions of rupiah annually as long-closed global data becomes accessible.

Therefore, the Minister of Law calls for the support of Indonesian creators for the success of this proposal. He also encourages all creators to actively protect their intellectual property through copyright registration to ensure their economic rights can be meaningfully upheld. Through this global initiative, Indonesia seeks to ensure that every Indonesian work consumed around the world provides fair economic benefit to its creators.

“Keep creating, and trust that your country is fighting for your rights — not only in Jakarta, but before the world,” he concluded.

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