International record labels plan to court local talent

By Dini S. Djalal

JAKARTA (JP): The competition in Indonesia's pop music industry is heating up, but surviving the competition offers considerable rewards. Indonesia currently accounts for 35 percent of sales growth in Asia, raking in staggering retail sales in the first six months of 1996 of US$163 million.

Indonesia may not win in terms of revenue -- cassettes are cheaper here than elsewhere in the region -- but it makes up the discrepancy in volume. Indonesian consumers are heavy buyers, especially of domestic talent, which accounts for 85 percent of all music sales. Even independent record companies are doing well now, says Armand Maulana, lead singer of pop group Gigi.

"The scene now is so explosive, the technology so advanced that even the indie labels can survive," said Armand. "Now there are many more opportunities, and many indie labels are coming out of Bandung. They work with distributors and the press, and can sell up to 60,000 cassettes through mail order," he said.

A discussion of Indonesia's pop music industry, however, must differentiate between mainstream pop and these smaller offshoots: alternative, punk, rap, dance. Although shunned by the elite, Indonesia's biggest music category is the Arabic/Indian-rhythmed dangdut. Compare the statistics: a dangdut release can easily sell 1 million copies. In the "pop creative" category, the focus of this article, a successful release means 100,000 to 125,000 cassettes sold.

But with greater exposure through television, these demographics, determined by cultural snobbery, may soon change. Daniel Tumiwa, marketing manager for MTV Asia, says that though pop music here is defined by income, the younger MTV-fed generation is acquiring tastes beyond socioeconomic class. "Real pop music is dangdut. The newer generation is leaving this behind, but they still see dangdut as pop music too," he said.

Cool dangdut

Coproducing three Indonesian-music shows with AN-Teve, MTV is among musicians' biggest patrons, although their relationship is mutually supportive. Local musicians need MTV to give them a wider audience -- MTV is shown in 5.5 million homes here -- and to make them "cool", but MTV also needs "cool" bands to maintain its street-cred and hence advertising revenue.

Yet MTV is aware of the magnitude of the dangdut market. "We want to enter the dangdut market, so we're thinking of putting together MTV-style dangdut, giving it an expensive look," said Daniel. MTV is planning an Indonesian chart show, based on sales. "If this happens, we will focus on dangdut," he said.

For the international record companies aggressively entering the Indonesian market, dangdut is a lucrative option. Warners Music is producing Indonesian dangdut albums for the Malaysian market, and BMG Entertainment, which includes record companies Aristra, Geffen, and MCA, also wants to cultivate a dangdut clientele.

The major labels are also looking to foster potential talent. In the last year, the industry has seen a bigger role played by newly arrived labels Warners, BMG, and Sony. Sudesh Nayer, marketing director of BMG Entertainment International, says that the entry of international labels is key to developing the industry. "With international record companies, there will be a higher level of professionalism, things will run more systematically, and networking will expand," he said.

But according to Nayer local artists will eventually have to prove their worth. "Now it's like cowboys, everybody's waiting for the draw to shoot. But in five years, there will be changes in regulations, and the record companies will come in full-force.

"The money involved will be bigger and (local bands) will be expected to deliver a quality product. The obligation, the professionalism will rise."

Unprofessional acts are often spurred by unprofessional management. Nayer says that record companies have to juggle many artists, and it's up to individual managers to mold the acts "from rock bottom to a piece of diamond". Pop singer Kris Dayanti agrees. "Here, artists have to promote themselves. If the management system doesn't improve, how can we go international?," she said.

Then again, it would be difficult for Indonesian artists to be taken seriously internationally when many of them are clones of Western acts. Musicologist Franki Raden says: "Indonesian artists have to understand that originality is important not only for art's sake, but for sales. We say we want to go international, but who wants to buy a carbon copy of American bands?"

The problem of copycat acts is acknowledged by the industry, but artists say the entire popular culture here is a derivative of Western culture. "Punk comes from the West, rap came from the States, it's impossible not to copy," said Armand from Gigi. "Our pop music since way back comes from the West. But of course there is Indonesian pop, it's in our language. The East and the West can meet, you know?" he said.

Pop star Denada also has few qualms about imitating Western artists. "All countries look to the States for inspiration. If there's good music there, we shouldn't think, oh we shouldn't copy them. We should think, hey we can do that too!" she said.

Franki says that the stifling cultural milieu, and not the musicians, are to blame. "The bigger problem is that Indonesian artists are a product of a contemporary culture which has yet to mature. Our whole culture is copycat culture, we want to emulate all that is Western," he said. Franki concedes that there is some improvement, thanks to the demands of MTV. "Before there was only type of music, but now they're moving beyond the mainstream. They're still copying, but at least now what they are copying is more interesting," he said.