Distributive Accountability in the Allocation of Music Royalties: A Comparative Legal Study of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand

The debate on music royalty management in Indonesia has centred on which institution may collect royalties, whereas whether royalties paid by users actually reach right holders has received far less attention. This prescriptive normative legal research introduces the concept of distributive accountability, namely the duty of every party holding royalties to account, in an enforceable manner, for each portion of those royalties to the right holder entitled to it. Employing statutory, functional-comparative, and conceptual approaches, the study examines Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand across seven links of the distribution chain: the status of the funds, usage data, the allocation key, deductions, deadlines and individual information, unidentified royalties, and redress. None of the three systems has a complete chain. Malaysia’s strength in force is a statutory Copyright Tribunal, while its 2025 distribution guidelines are currently stayed by the courts. Thailand creates traceability at the point of collection but does not regulate distribution by statute. Indonesia has usage-based distribution and an annual public audit, yet its allocation key is determinate at only one of three stages, its deductions stack without a cumulative cap, right holders receive no individual distribution statements, and unrecorded royalties may become reserve funds. The article proposes a distributive accountability model resting on five principles: funds held for the benefit of right holders; traceability and proportionality to use; legality and reasonableness of deductions; timeliness and individual transparency; and claims that survive reallocation, with enforceable redress, implemented in stages according to the hierarchy of laws and regulations.