Local artists settle for cuts and alternatives during crisis

Local artists settle for cuts and alternatives during crisis

By Yogita Tahil Ramani

JAKARTA (JP): If you sit down and watch local TV for a few
hours each evening, don't be surprised to see vocalist Yana Julio
littering almost every channel.

Whether it's a video of a song from his latest, Ku Cinta, Yana
himself on Indosiar's variety show Pesta or one of RCTI's quiz
shows, he seems to be grabbing TV offers like they are going out
of style.

"I've had more spare time since the economic crisis
started... it's caused a 50 percent drop in the number of offers
for stage shows," Yana said.

Yana's colleague and friend, vocalist Rita Effendy, is
suffering the same fate and is also taking on more TV shows,
though they offer less compensation than stage shows. With a 50
percent drop in offers for her to perform on stage, she has even
accepted other alternatives.

"I'm also doing weddings and big office celebrations, for
instance," she said.

Rita, who is preparing a new album, said she was not doing as
well financially as before.

"But my husband (a businessman) pitches in so I'm doing fine,"
she said.

Entertainment manager Bambang Stio said the crisis had caused
a 60 percent reduction of stage performance offers on average.

"The singers I manage usually got 10 to 12 assignments a
month. Now, only five come along in a month," said Bambang, who
manages shows for vocalists Rita, Yana, Agus Wisman and Dewi
Gita.

He said some singers still received offers to do shows abroad
on top of the music recordings and TV shows they were filling
their time with domestically.

Yana is scheduled to perform with Malaysian artist Siti
Nurhaliza in Singapore this September. Dewi and Rita, along with
Yana, have been booked for a show this month in Brunei
Darussalam.

There are not many such offers even though the weak rupiah has
made Indonesian artists very affordable.

"Only top artists get this opportunity these days. Times are
very tough," Bambang said.

Top artists like Yana can be booked for between S$6,000 and
S$7,000, he said.

The fee for stage shows in the greater Jakarta area are
between Rp 7 million and Rp 8 million, and are about 25 percent
to 50 percent more for other parts of the country.

Bambang added that for special events, like Independence Day
celebrations on Aug. 17, the honorarium was 50 percent less than
the standard fee.

Realizing the slump in the public's purchasing power, concert
organizer Buena Productions has decided to cut the ticket price
for its shows.

Such price cuts will go into effect for the Kahitna concert
here and a concert by Arwana in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, in
September.

Tickets for the Kahitna concert will be priced at Rp 6,000
each and Rp 10,000 each for Arwana.

"This is cheap, considering that their tickets used to be
almost three times more than that before," director of Buena
Productions, Peter Basuki, said.

How about international groups?

Buena Productions, which also deals with international
artists, will bring Ricky Marten to the stage in Semarang and
Jakarta respectively on Nov. 21 and Nov. 22.

"The Ricky Martin concert is a part of his upcoming Asian
tour. So promoters from other parts of Asia have helped. They're
subsidizing for Indonesia."

He is also organizing concerts for Incognito and Fire House in
October.

Fire House was first scheduled to play in 20 cities this year.
Now, the number of cities they will play in has been cut to 12 or
even less, Peter said. With dollar rates up 500 percent to 600
percent, rock band Fire House is taking a cut of 25 percent in
its fees, he added.

Money, however, is not the only problem in organizing concerts
for international artists. Promoters and concert organizers are
now facing higher bureaucratic hurdles.

Obtaining licenses for international groups has become an
increasingly difficult procedure since the May riots, Peter said.

He said the Commission of Evaluation for Entertainment
Activities (KPKH), the entertainment censor board, had demanded
that foreign artists obtain 12 documents in order to perform in
Indonesia.

"You need one from the Ministry of Tourism, the immigration
office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of
Education and Culture, the police, the Attorney General's Office
and the State Intelligence Coordinating Board, to mention a few,"
Peter said.

He added that documents had to be applied for a month or two
before the concert date, while the processing of the permits took
two weeks.