Indonesia’s national royalty collector, the National Collective Management Organisation (LMKN), is demanding an estimated 75 billion rupiah (US$4.3 million) from Netflix for a decade of unpaid music royalties. The claim, covering the period since Netflix began commercial operations in Indonesia in 2016, was set out in a written statement on Wednesday.
The dispute is unresolved. LMKN’s Secretary-General, Bigi Ramadha Putra, has stated the body will propose that Indonesian authorities block access to Netflix if the platform does not comply with the country’s copyright regulations.
The demand itself is a number: 75 billion rupiah. The threat that follows it is a test of whether Indonesia can force a global streaming platform to obey its rules by threatening to cut the cord. For a decade, Netflix has operated in Southeast Asia’s largest economy without paying music royalties, according to the government-backed body now holding the invoice. The question is no longer just about the money. It is about who, in a digital market of 280 million people, gets to set the terms.
Bigi Ramadha Putra, the Secretary-General of the Lembaga Manajemen Kolektif Nasional (LMKN), laid out the position in a written statement. The sum covers the entire period since Netflix’s commercial digital service launched in Indonesia in 2016. If the platform does not pay, LMKN will take the matter to the Ministry of Law and the Ministry of Communications and Digital Affairs. And it will ask them to shut Netflix down. “If the regulations are not complied with,” Putra said, “we will propose that access to Netflix in Indonesia be shut down.”
The legal machinery behind the ultimatum
The claim is not a surprise attack. It rests on a legal architecture that has been tightening for five years. A 2021 government regulation centralised all commercial music royalty collection under LMKN. Then, in August 2025, a new ministerial regulation explicitly listed the digital services that must pay: audio and video streaming, downloads, video-on-demand, and over-the-top platforms. Netflix was named in the category of services that now require a licence. The rules also cut LMKN’s maximum operational deduction from 20% to 8% and mandated that platforms update their usage data in a national music database every three months.
The 75 billion rupiah figure is LMKN’s estimate. Netflix has not issued a public response to the demand. The silence leaves open whether the number is a final calculation or an opening bid in a negotiation that has not yet formally begun.
Putra framed the dispute as more than a commercial disagreement. He described it as a test of compliance with Indonesia’s entire copyright regime. The implication was clear: if a platform of Netflix’s size can operate for a decade without paying, the system is not working. The remedy, in LMKN’s view, is to prove that the system has teeth.
A new enforcement playbook
The threat of an access block is not an empty one in Indonesia. Between January 2025 and May 2026, the Directorate General of Intellectual Property oversaw the blocking of more than a thousand pirate sites under copyright and joint ministerial regulations. Technical access restrictions are now a standard enforcement tool for online intellectual property violations. Deputy Law Minister Edward Omar Sharif Hiariej has been reported to promote the 2025 regulation as a step toward fairer royalty distribution, signalling political support for LMKN’s strengthened role.
What is different now is the target. Blocking a piracy site is one thing. Blocking a mainstream platform with millions of Indonesian subscribers is another. It would be the most visible use of the new enforcement powers against a legitimate global service. For other streaming platforms watching from the sidelines, the message would be unambiguous: the cost of non-compliance is no longer just a legal bill. It is the loss of the market itself.
The honest caveat is that the process for blocking a platform like Netflix is not automatic. A report must be filed, verified, and then acted upon by the communications ministry. Whether the political will exists to follow through on a request targeting a service used by millions of Indonesians is an open question. The threat may be designed to force a negotiation as much as to signal regulatory resolve. But the fact that it can now be made at all is the story.
Beyond the headline
The power behind it
Behind LMKN’s ultimatum is a network of Indonesian regulatory bodies that now wield both licensing and technical enforcement power over digital platforms. The combination of a strengthened LMKN, a more assertive Directorate General of Intellectual Property, and ministries empowered to order site blocking means that decisions about whether Netflix pays or faces an access request are driven less by the platform’s global stature and more by domestic institutions aiming to prove they can enforce economic rights in the digital economy.
The money trail
The dispute reveals how Indonesia’s royalty reforms redirect income streams: instead of dispersed payments to multiple collecting societies, PP 56/2021 and Permenkum 27/2025 route commercial music revenues through LMKN, which then distributes to songwriters, performers and producers. A successful claim against Netflix would not just yield a lump sum; it would validate LMKN’s expanded role as gatekeeper for digital music earnings, strengthening its leverage over other platforms and reinforcing the expectation that global services must plug into this centralised collection model.
The reach
For Western media investors, Indonesia’s approach has a specific downstream implication: platform valuations increasingly depend on reliable access to growth markets, and Jakarta’s willingness to pair royalty rules with potential access restrictions means that compliance failures could suddenly change user reach in Southeast Asia. A forced negotiation or partial block in Indonesia would become a concrete scenario for risk modelling across portfolios that include global streaming and digital entertainment companies.
The choices a blocked market forces
With LMKN preparing to escalate the dispute to Indonesian ministries, the coming weeks will determine whether this remains a financial claim or becomes a test case for digital market access in Southeast Asia.
- Western investor with Southeast Asian streaming exposure
Review Netflix’s regulatory risk disclosures for Indonesia in its next quarterly filing. The 75 billion rupiah figure is a specific liability, but the larger risk is the precedent of an access block. Check whether other streaming platforms in your portfolio have obtained LMKN licences or disclosed their compliance status under Permenkum 27/2025.
- Western digital content platform operating in Indonesia
Audit your current royalty payment and licensing agreements against the strengthened framework. The 2025 regulation explicitly lists streaming, downloads, and video-on-demand as commercial uses requiring an LMKN licence. Ensure your usage data is being updated in the national music database at least every three months to avoid the kind of enforcement action now threatened against Netflix.
- Western legal counsel for digital media companies in APAC
Advise clients that Indonesia has moved from civil royalty disputes to technical access restrictions as a standard enforcement tool. The joint ministerial regulations from 2015, combined with the 2025 royalty rules, create a pathway from an unpaid royalty claim to a site block. Proactive compliance with LMKN’s licensing and reporting requirements is now a market-access issue, not just a legal one.
- Western content creator or rights holder with Indonesian distribution
Monitor the outcome of this dispute. A successful LMKN claim would validate the centralised collection model and could increase royalty flows to registered rights holders. Ensure your works are properly registered with the relevant collective management organisations in Indonesia to benefit from any strengthened enforcement.
FAQ
Who can order a Netflix access block and under what process?
Indonesia’s joint regulations from 2015 give the Law and Communications ministries authority to respond to verified copyright infringements in electronic systems used commercially. Rights holders or LMKN can file a report, which is assessed by officials. If infringement is confirmed, the communications ministry can instruct internet service providers to restrict access, usually based on documented recommendations from IP authorities.
Practical impact on Indonesian subscribers if Netflix is blocked?
If authorities order an access block, Indonesian users would typically experience either complete inability to load Netflix or restrictions at the level of domains, apps or specific content. Existing subscriptions could become unusable from Indonesian IP addresses, though accounts would continue to function from other countries. Consumers might shift to rival platforms that remain accessible, and local Netflix billing processed through Indonesian payment channels could be disrupted until the dispute is resolved.
How other streaming platforms handle music royalties in Indonesia?
Some major streaming services already work with LMKN or other licensed intermediaries to clear music rights in Indonesia, treating the country as a jurisdiction where collective licensing and centralised royalty reporting are required for commercial use. Platforms that proactively obtain LMKN licences and update usage data to the national music database every quarter reduce the risk of enforcement action, while those that treat Indonesia as a uniform global rights territory may face similar scrutiny over unpaid royalties or incomplete reporting.
Explainer
- LMKN
- The Lembaga Manajemen Kolektif Nasional is Indonesia’s national collective management organisation for music royalties. Established under a 2021 government regulation, it is the central body through which all commercial music users must obtain licences and pay royalties. The 2025 ministerial regulation expanded its authority to explicitly cover streaming, video-on-demand, and other digital services.
- Permenkum 27/2025
- Minister of Law Regulation No. 27 of 2025, effective August 7, 2025, implements Indonesia’s centralised royalty framework. It designates LMKN as the primary body to collect royalties for commercial music use across digital services including streaming, downloads, and video-on-demand. The regulation also cut LMKN’s maximum operational deduction from 20% to 8% and requires platforms to update usage data in a national database every three months.
- PP 56/2021
- Government Regulation No. 56 of 2021 on the Management of Royalties for Copyrighted Songs and/or Music took effect on March 31, 2021. It created the legal basis for centralised royalty collection in Indonesia, establishing a national music data centre and requiring any party using music for commercial public services to obtain a licence and pay royalties through LMKN.
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