International record labels plan to court local talent

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.