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Sharia Hotels Music Royalty Ball: Unexpected Murotal Charges in Mataram
Several Sharia-compliant hotels in Mataram City, West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia (NTB), have been shocked to receive music royalty bills—and in some cases, legal summons—even though they only play murotal, traditional Islamic recitations.
These bills reportedly range from IDR 2 million per year for hotels with fewer than 50 rooms, to over IDR 4.4 million for those with 51–100 rooms (plus 9 % VAT), with higher room counts incurring higher fees.
The General Manager of Grand Madani Hotel and Secretary-Treasurer of the Mataram Hotel Association, Rega Fajar Firdaus, confirmed that some hoteliers have even received summons for allegedly failing to pay these royalties.
The bills are automatically generated annually—his own hotel’s billing cycle began at the end of July, with another expected next July.
Hoteliers argue that the royalty calculation is flawed. The billing assumes each room contains a device—typically a television—capable of playing copyrighted music.
As a result, even hotels that don’t have TVs in all rooms are being charged.
The logic even extends to content like YouTube bird sounds or murotal—it’s the “object of sound” that triggers billing, not the performer or genre.
This has hit Sharia hotels particularly hard—even those exclusively playing religious recitations are targeted by the royalty system.
Rega noted that this broad interpretation causes anxiety among entrepreneurs, especially when refusal to pay can lead to severe criminal penalties: up to 10 years in prison or a fine of as much as IDR 4 billion.
The challenge is compounded by insufficient socialization of relevant regulations, namely Law No. 28 of 2014 on Copyright and Government Regulation No. 56 of 2021 concerning song and music royalty management.
The lack of clarity has prompted the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) to urge a legal revision for a fairer, more transparent system—highlighting international models from the US (BMI, ASCAP), UK (PRS with fee calculators), and Australia (APRA AMCOS tiered licensing).
With Indonesia’s evolving hospitality landscape, this issue underscores the importance of developing a nuanced royalty system that considers actual usage, context, and content type.
Such reform would help protect both creators’ rights and the viability of hotels that operate under religious principles.
For further reading on proposed legal revisions and global best practices, see the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association’s recommendations and international royalty frameworks.
