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.