Music in N. Sumatra booms despite piracy

Music in N. Sumatra booms despite piracy

By Apriadi Gunawan

MEDAN, North Sumatra (JP): As far as music is concerned, North
Sumatra seems to be in deep slumber, and little or no clamor is
heard; but when it comes to piracy in the cassette recording
business, it is something else. You will be dumbfounded.

And if cassette producers in Jakarta learned about the secret,
they, too, would surely be flabbergasted. The reason? Albums of
ethnic music are selling like hot cakes; as many as 100,000-
300,000 copies are sold each month. In the meantime, sales of
national pop music seem to be heading south or dragging at a
really slow pace. Seldom can they make a hit but when sales do
hit a record high of 100,000 copies a month, there is no doubt
that to have achieved that feat, it must have required tremendous
effort.

Mind you, sales of pirated cassettes are not yet included in
the calculations to determine what is a hit record! In terms of
number, pirated cassettes and VCDs of ethnic songs in North
Sumatra outnumber or rank level with the sales of albums of Slank
or Dewa -- two Jakarta music groups that have recently shot to
prominence. But again please don't be surprised! Medan is a hub
and haven for cassette piracy.

According to the owner of LY Recording Company, H. Sofyan S,
40, sales of pirated cassettes and VCDs are higher than the sales
of their originals. He cited that if sales of original cassettes
and VCDs hit 250,000-300,000 copies, that meant the total sales
number could have reached between 600,000-1,000,000 copies a
month.

Sofyan added that extensive and rampant piracy had made some
producers and recording companies in Medan hesitant to launch new
albums. The pirates, with their agility and prowess, would outwit
the authorities, offering readily available pirated cassettes and
VCDs at a much-reduced price, thus forcing the originals to
always remain on the shop shelves.

In the last few months, LY Recording Company has begun to feel
the pain. Demand for originals have been very low, since pirated
ones are rife across the city. And to make matters worse, pirates
are always quick at taking action, leaving producers always
lagging behind. An old saying goes "the early bird catches the
worm". Producers have been taken by surprise! Before they have
had a chance to release a new VCD, the pirates have launched
theirs, enabling them to reap handsome profits.

Without harboring any feelings of guilt, the pirates start
copying the songs from newly released cassettes, then make their
own VCD clips and get them ready for circulation.

During their heyday, LY was able to release two albums to four
albums every month. On average, each album cost roughly Rp 8
million, covering the cost of the music, transferring the music
to tape and recording the singer's voice. Sofyan added that if a
recording studio released three albums a month, it could pull in
some Rp 24 million.

Gesit Record, the oldest and leading producer of Karo music
cassettes in the city of Medan, has been very active in releasing
ethnic songs to date. Remember the Biring Manggis album -- a
widely known song hummed as far as Java island? This album was a
great hit, with sales exceeding 300,000 copies.

That is not too extraordinary. Songs from South Tapanuli --
also of Batak ethnicity -- dominate the market more. Mostly
popularized by Gita Record but recorded in LY Record Studio, the
album Marbue I and II -- songs that tell about the fate of a
wife and children abandoned by her husband -- were able to break
a sales record of more than 1 million copies. According to
Sofyan, this record sale is mainly because the society is so
familiar with the work." The producer, of course, was all smiles,
since he didn't have to provide a big promotion," said Sofyan.

Sofyan added that a producer normally didn't have to spend
that much money on making an album. If one album contained 12
songs, a producer usually spent only Rp 12.8 million -- a singer
got Rp 4.8 million and recording costs were Rp 8 million.

If they could sell 100,000 copies at only Rp 1,000 profit
apiece, minus Rp 12.8 million for costs, then they would enjoy a
profit of Rp 87 million -- handsome indeed.

The local singers would always come out worst. For singers
such as Laila Hasyim and Syaiful Amri, they got Rp 400,000 for
each of their songs, but they didn't know about their royalty
rights. "Generally, they were satisfied with the deals made with
their producers."

Speaking of profit, Gesit Record producer Dewan Tarigan, 42,
expressed his disagreement over the unfair profit-sharing
deal."Both producer and singer should enjoy equal profit, and
singers deserve royalties," he said.

Based on his experience, he said that it was the singers who
usually came first and made a deal. Due to their lack of
education and unemployment, they naturally accepted what was
offered.

"Every day they just sit in or hang around coffee shops, young
and gifted, with a natural flair for singing."