Affirmative Action for MSMEs Regarding Song Royalty Payments:

The obligation to pay music royalties as regulated under Law No. 28 of 2014 on Copyright, particularly Article 9 paragraph (2), raises significant challenges for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs). On the one hand, songwriters and copyright holders are entitled to economic rights that must be protected, yet on the other, MSMEs face financial and administrative limitations in fulfilling such obligations. The uniform application of copyright regulations risks creating substantive injustice, as it fails to adequately account for the socio-economic realities of MSMEs, which serve as the backbone of the national economy. This study aims to analyze the legal issues surrounding the obligation of royalty payments by MSMEs and to formulate the possibility of applying affirmative action within the framework of dignified justice. The research employs a normative juridical method with statutory and conceptual approaches. Data were collected through library research, focusing on statutory provisions, academic literature, and legal doctrines concerning copyright protection. The findings reveal that affirmative action can serve as a more equitable policy basis for regulating royalty payments by MSMEs. The novelty of this research lies in employing the philosophical framework of dignified justice as a foundation for affirmative policies—an approach that has been largely overlooked in prior studies. Thus, this study provides a conceptual contribution that balances the protection of authors’ economic rights with the sustainability of MSMEs, ensuring that copyright law operates more fairly, humanely, and in line with the principle of human dignity