LMKN Royalty Rates 2026: What Venues Actually Pay

Every Indonesian venue that plays recorded music owes royalties — but very few owners can tell you what the actual number is. This article breaks down how the LMKN tariff works in 2026, what different venue types really pay, and how to budget for it without surprises.

Two Royalty Streams, One Invoice

Under UU No. 28/2014 (the Indonesian Copyright Law) and PP 56/2021, royalties for public performance of music are collected through Lembaga Manajemen Kolektif Nasional (LMKN). Your payment is split into two streams:

• Hak Cipta (author's rights) — paid to songwriters and publishers, distributed via LMKs like WAMI and RAI
• Hak Terkait (related rights) — paid to performers and record labels, distributed via LMKs representing artists and producers

Since PP 56/2021 centralized collection, you deal with LMKN as a single point of payment — you do not negotiate separately with WAMI or individual labels. One registration, one annual invoice covering both streams.

How the Tariff Is Calculated

The tariff schedule set by ministerial decree ties the rate to a physical metric of your venue, not your revenue. The metric depends on your business type:

• Restaurants and cafes — per seat, per year
• Karaoke venues — per room, per day of operation
• Hotels — tiered by room count and star rating
• Bars, pubs, and clubs — per square meter of floor area, per year
• Retail and malls — per square meter of publicly accessible area

Restaurants and Cafes: The Per-Seat Math

The benchmark rate for restaurants and cafes has long been Rp 60,000 per seat per year for hak cipta plus Rp 60,000 per seat per year for hak terkait — an effective Rp 120,000 per seat annually. Worked example:

• A 40-seat cafe in Bandung: 40 × Rp 120,000 = Rp 4,800,000 per year (Rp 400,000/month)
• A 100-seat family restaurant in Surabaya: 100 × Rp 120,000 = Rp 12,000,000 per year (Rp 1,000,000/month)

Count only seats in areas where music is audible. If your smoking terrace has no speakers, document that when you self-report — it legitimately reduces your invoice.

Karaoke: Per Room, Per Day

Karaoke tariffs are charged per room per operating day, with different rates for family karaoke, executive rooms, and karaoke without private rooms. A 10-room family KTV operating 360 days a year at a combined rate of roughly Rp 24,000 per room per day is looking at around Rp 86,400,000 per year — which is why royalty budgeting must be part of any karaoke business plan from day one, not an afterthought.

Hotels: Zone by Zone

Hotels pay based on room-count tiers, and music in lobbies, restaurants, pools, and function rooms may each be assessed. A 3-star, 120-room hotel typically lands in the Rp 10–25 million per year range once all public areas are counted. Keep a written map of which zones actually play music — it is your strongest tool during assessment.

What Changes in 2026

LMKN has been tightening enforcement rather than dramatically raising base rates. Three practical shifts matter for venue owners this year:

• Digital reporting — LMKN increasingly expects logged play data (what was actually played), not just flat declarations. Venues with automated play reports are processed faster and disputed less.
• Regional sweeps — Joint enforcement with local governments in Jakarta, Bali, and Surabaya means unlicensed venues are being found through business-permit cross-checks, not just walk-in inspections.
• Usage-based distribution — Because distribution to artists follows reported plays, accurate reporting is also how the Indonesian musicians your guests love actually get paid.

The Cost of Not Paying

Article 113 of UU 28/2014 provides criminal penalties for commercial copyright infringement of up to 4 years imprisonment and fines up to Rp 1 billion for the most serious violations. In practice, the first step is a warning letter and a back-payment demand — but back-payment for several years plus legal costs is always more expensive than just being licensed. For a 40-seat cafe, compliance costs about the same per month as one tank of fuel.

How to Budget and Pay

• Count your seats/rooms/floor area honestly and keep the calculation on file
• Register through LMKN's portal or your regional office and self-report your venue profile
• Treat the invoice as a fixed annual operating cost — roughly 0.5–2% of revenue for most food-and-beverage venues
• Display the certificate; inspectors ask for it first
• Renew before expiry — lapsed licenses are treated as unlicensed periods

Frequently Confused Cases

"We only play the radio / TV"

Still public performance. Broadcasting a radio or TV signal through your venue's speakers to customers is a communication to the public under the Copyright Law, and the tariff schedule has categories covering it. The radio station's own license covers the broadcast, not your retransmission of it in a commercial space.

"Our music is live bands, not recordings"

Live performance of copyrighted songs still owes the hak cipta (songwriter) royalty — what drops away is the hak terkait portion tied to recordings. Venues hosting regular live music should declare it, because the calculation differs from background-music use.

"We have two floors / an outdoor area"

The metric follows where music is audible. Two floors of speakers means both floors count; an unamplified rooftop does not. This is why keeping a simple speaker-zone map with your registration documents pays off every renewal.

Documentation That Protects You

When an inspection or a dispute happens, venues with paperwork win quickly. Keep four things in one folder:

• Your current LMKN certificate and proof of payment
• The seat/room/area calculation you self-reported, with a floor plan
• Play reports from your music system covering the license period
• Your music provider's confirmation of commercial catalog clearance

The last two items are where your technology choice matters directly: a consumer streaming account can produce neither.

Where eJukebox Fits

eJukebox is built for LMKN compliance from the ground up. Every song in the catalog is cleared for commercial use, and the player generates the detailed play logs that LMKN's usage-based distribution relies on — see our licensing page for exactly what is covered and how reporting works. The division of responsibility between eJukebox and your venue (you still hold your venue license; we handle catalog clearance and reporting) is spelled out in our venue terms.

If you are budgeting for 2026, put both numbers side by side: your LMKN tariff based on the math above, and an eJukebox subscription from our pricing page. For most venues the combined total is still less than what an unlicensed venue risks in a single enforcement action — and you get a working music system, not just a certificate.