Recording industry still tenuous in the year 2000

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian music industry has been facing an up-and-down period for the last five years.

The development of the industry has been heavily affected by the crisis which has hit the country since the middle of l997.

Unstable political and economic conditions are only one of the many factors which influence the gloomy state of the Indonesian music industry.

Since l996, the music industry, especially recording companies, has faced significant downturns.

Imam Supeno, chairman of Indonesian Recording Companies Association (Asiri), said the sales of Indonesian music has not been as good as foreign music especially during this crisis.

Between l996 and l999, there was no significant decrease in the sales of cassettes and compact discs (CDs) of foreign musicians.

In many music genres, especially dangdut (blend of Indian and Malay music styles), local artists have found it hard to sell their albums.

Buyers of dangdut albums are usually people from low-to-middle class groups. Many of them have lost their jobs or have reduced their daily costs because of decreasing income.

Other music styles like ska (fresh, cutting-edge music from Jamaica) still get a supportive response from their fans, mostly affluent teenagers. Even local jazz music has successfully maintained its faithful devotees and their albums are selling quite well.

Many companies are still weak in their distribution and marketing systems. "Some of them produce high-quality music, yet they don't know the real map of the local market," he said.

Currently, a number of recording companies have set up a joint agreement to exchange necessary information.

"They have to carefully set a specific market segment otherwise they will likely fail to properly distribute and to target the right market," he said.

In addition to the marketing difficulties, local recording companies are also facing the serious problem of piracy.

"The illicit piracy business is gripping the entire national music industry. There are millions of pirated cassettes and CDs of both local and international musicians," he said.

Indonesian recording firms suffer a great loss as a result of the production of pirated music.

Figures from the International Federation of Phonograph Industries showed that for Indonesia's monthly sales of up to seven million cassettes and CDs, 20 percent is foreign music. Nine percent of the total sales are pirated copies.

"Not only the company, but also artists, musicians, composers and the Indonesian government are badly affected by this criminal action," he said.

Copyright violation is considered a criminal act. The penalty is a maximum of seven years imprisonment or a Rp 100 million fine.

Asiri, he added, has announced that it will give a Rp 10 million reward to those who catch people involved in the piracy business.

He said the piracy network is very complicated and global. Therefore it requires strong cooperation among the local companies, the government, legal institutions and other related agencies to fight against the piracy business.

"A strong political will from the government is badly needed to combat piracy. The government should act very quickly because of international pressure," he said.

Indonesia is among several Asian and African countries which are included in the international top watch list for piracy and violation of intellectual property rights.

Dark and heavy clouds also cover the local recording companies. The globalization era has forced Indonesia to accept deals with foreign industries, including the music industry.

Since a few years go, many international recording companies have set their feet in the local music industry.

Asiri has tried hard to prevent the international recording companies from dominating the local market.

Among the foreign companies are Warner Music, BMI, Polygram and Sony Music.

"In the past, we were backed by the state secretary and the Investment Coordinating Board. Times are changing. These companies have strong lobbies from the U.S. and Japan," he said.

With such heavy pressure from these countries who have provided significant economic support to Indonesia in this time of crisis, the Indonesian government can do nothing but accept their operations in Indonesia.

The problem lies with the local companies as to whether they can face this stiff competition. (Endi Aras)