Indonesian critiques of the new musical system

This article explores Indonesian indie musicians' critiques of the new system for distributing and listening to music, which is comprised of music streaming platforms, aggregator services, music industry personnel, collecting societies and copyright law. It is set against a background of musicians' critiques of this new system and debates about its fairness among scholars focussed on the European and North American contexts. Drawing on interviews with and media reports by and about indie music personnel, and a major UNESCO sponsored report on digital music and copyright, we show how in Indonesia, critiques have not exclusively focussed on the business model of platforms, but also on the shortcomings of other stakeholders determining royalty payment and visibility on music streaming platforms, including collecting societies, copyright law, and aggregators. By providing an account of these critiques, the article points to global variations in discourses of music streaming, and also highlights specific problems associated with the new system in the Indonesian context.