Indonesian popular music recordings
Encyclopedia
Recorded music is a reflection of modern Indonesian history and culture—specifically class consciousness, economics and post-colonial identity. Since the early 1970s, the production, marketing and distribution of recorded media, particularly popular music cassettes
and VCDs, in Indonesia have evolved in tandem with the archipelago's ongoing integration of tradition and modernity.
and Bali
during the 1950s and 1960s, with similar schools established in Sumatra
and Sulawesi
during the 1970s. In this roughly twenty year period, the Indonesian government also institutionalized the recording of both traditional and popular music throughout the archipelago with its support of P.N. Lokananta, the national recording company of Indonesia, a branch of the government's Department of Information since the late 1950s. "Although scholars have detected a gradual narrowing in the geographic and genre purview of Lokananta's recording and marketing strategies, considering this to be at odds with its status and purpose as a national recording company, the introduction of audiocassette
recording technology in the 1960s gave rise to a robust industry of recorded music. In the 1970s, oil wealth and the relatively unrestricted import of cheap tape
and recorders
led to an extraordinary boom of the Indonesian cassette
industry.
Central to the ongoing evolution of Indonesian popular music styles was an inherent tension between dueling aesthetics: gedongan ("refined", "international") and kampungan ("vulgar," "low class," "backward"). During the 1970s, the most prominent supporter of the gedongan style was Guruh Sukarno (born 1953), son of the first president of Indonesia
and a musician since his early teens. Long a student of classical Javanese
and Sundanese music while at the same time familiar with Western jazz
and classics, Guruh set out in 1974 to elevate existing Indonesian-Western pop music and create a kind of neoclassic, syncretic style that would be at once Indonesian and international. Contrasting in many ways with Rhoma Irama
and the many other dangdut
singers popular during the 1970s, Guruh Sukarno was a member of the elite class and saw Indonesia's culture as pluralistic and inescapably mixed with influences from the West. Nevertheless, the 1970s also witnessed a gap between the rich and poor classes. Awareness of this gap, and sensitivity to the condition of the lower classes were central to the popularity of dangdut
and the many genres it influenced.
Between the 1970s and 1990s, recorded Indonesian popular music grew to include, like most popular music
elsewhere in the world, the use of at least some Western instruments and Western harmony. It was increasingly disseminated through the mass media, performed by recognized stars, and became essentially a "commercial" genre. In the process of reformation (Reformasi) that was put into motion with the resignation of president Suharto and the fall of his New Order
regime in 1998, popular music became a common vehicle of protest, and many songs, cassettes
and genres were labeled with the adjective reformasi..
today is in the form of pre-recorded cassettes
, but music is also available on compact disc
, video compact disc (VCD)
. and laser disc (LD)
. The latter two formats contain images as well as sounds, and are mainly used to accompany karaoke
performance. While the traditional, court-derived styles of gamelan
and wayang kulit have been frequently recorded, sales of popular music in Indonesia have increased dramatically with the emergence of the cassette tape
. Centered in Jakarta
, Indonesia's music industry defines popular music as either "national" or "regional." National genres, including Pop sunda
, kroncong
, dangdut
, qasidah modern
, rock, rap
, country, jazz, disco, house and Hawaiian, generally feature lyrics in Indonesian (though sometimes in English) and are marketed mainly in the urban regions throughout the archipelago, both as audio cassettes and compact discs. Sales trends, both regionally and nationally, are shifting towards popular music, which, in contrast to the field recordings of regional styles, is almost entirely a product of recording studio
s. In financial terms, the present day music industry in Indonesia is small by world standards, but it is the largest in Southeast Asia
. Although cassette tapes
are still sold in large quantities, since 1997 these have been replaced more and more by VCDs
. Audio CDs
have never been big sellers, as their price is relatively high.
industry in the world. Given the country's cultural and ethnic diversity, the recording industry, and the cassette industry in particular, has displayed great complexity in its structure and in how it serves the many ethnically distinct regions of the country. While the CD
and the advent of digital technology has affected the production, dissemination and consumption of Indonesian popular music, cassette tapes remain the preferred source of recorded popular music for most Indonesians. The continued viability of the cassette medium in Indonesia springs from the fact that an audio cassette and the technology required to play it—-a simple cassette player/recorder
—-are within the financial means of most Indonesians, including the peasant class. As cassettes
and cassette players
have penetrated the remotest villages in Indonesia, they have also become part of the vernacular. For example, in addition to the older word ngrekam ("to record"), contemporary Javanese
now includes words for the process of recording onto a commercial cassette:
"Gendhing kuwi wis dikasetkz" ("That piece has already been recorded on commercial cassette."). Much of what is available can be classified as "popular" music," including pop Berat (Western pop) and pop Indonesia (Indonesian pop). Also in abundance is pop Daerah, or regional pop, which is found all across Indonesia. Virtually all genres of pop Daerah are dependent on the cassette medium
for their audience. Some Pop Daerah genres are little more than cassette-company experiments, generating only a few performers and a handful of tapes, but others are firmly established, with many performers and steady production. Four genres—-Pop Batak, Pop Minang, Pop Sunda, and Pop Jawa—-are especially solid. In the case of these four, some of the production comes out of Jakarta
, relying upon Jakarta-based musicians and Jakarta facilities for recording, printing and distribution. However, most of the other regional genres are produced in their home regions (or in the nearby big cities). As a result, the cassette
industry is national, regional, and local in character. The broad marketing of cassettes
has not led to a musical homogenization or a weakening of regional styles. Rather, local cassette
industries have promoted regional styles because, rather than being large national corporations, they are regional "backyard" enterprises that record, dub, and market local music primarily for local consumption. Commercial cassettes
have also shaped the reputations of popular music performers, significantly raising the prestige and earning power of some recording artists while lowering them for others. Scholars have noted a trend towards the equalization of status for genres and marginal traditions through the distribution of cassettes;
the cassette
industry is said to act as a leveler, blurring the older status distinctions that were still in place a generation ago.
has been compromised somewhat by competition from the rapidly growing video compact disc (VCD)
medium. Since the resignation of Suharto in 1998, VCDs, which are cheaper than audio CDs
, have gradually been taking over the role of audio cassettes, and as of 2002 the VCD medium was considered more important than the World Wide Web
to Indonesian consumers. Particularly notable about the VCD is its ability to combine sound and image through the digital medium. Like other emerging technologies, VCD players have proven to be outlets, especially for Indonesian youth, for expressing a desire for modernity and cosmopolitanism at the same time. Featuring modern, Western-style music video
s that appear on MTV
or VH1
, professionally-produced VCDs also claim their contents to be karaoke
music, in which one can turn off the audio-channel with the sound of the vocalist, and just hear the accompaniment and see the images and text. As a source of participatory music making for the consumer, then, the VCD provides an opportunity for Indonesian consumers to interact directly with the body of popular music produced nationally.
On VCDs of pop Indonesia-—national, Western-style music with lyrics sung in Indonesian—the images are mainly urban: street life, cars, houses and other possessions are often featured prominently. Because VCDs are big business, erotic images are important on almost all of them, as are lyrics about love and romance. Images on pop Daerah (regional pop) music VCDs seem to be more restrained than on the national ones. Also, on the regional pop music VCDs the erotic images tend to be produced mainly by actors other than the singers (who "just sing"), whereas on the pop Indonesia VCDs, the singers tend to be more actively involved in producing them. Unfortunately, today the VCD format is associated with piracy, pornography
and political violence. Nevertheless, all VCDs have to pass the censor before being released, which is how the government controls both image and text. Beyond its social implications, the popular music industry in Indonesia makes use of a new type of oral tradition made possible by the VCD. By displaying song texts on screen and mentioning the songs' composers, legal VCDs serve as audiovisual "texts" for both national and regional pop music in Indonesia.
and VCDs. Although music-related e-commerce
is a small sector in the country and mainly focuses on selling to customers outside Indonesia, it is more likely to contribute to the internationalization of what used to be national or regional Indonesian popular music. Unlike retailers, e-commerce
does not shape or reflect the consumption of Indonesian music
by Indonesians. Like many institutions in Indonesia, popular music retail outlets are stratified by social class and generally calculate their sales activities based on the needs and interests of their intended audience.
for sale (and no compact discs
of any sort), but feature a wide variety of dangdut
cassettes
. Warung kaset distinguish themselves sonically from the other stalls in a traditional market by the loud recorded music they broadcast to passersby. The type of music played depends on the sales clerk, though sentimental pop ballads, often in English, are a frequent choice.
Cassette stalls offer a unique music buying experience in that most hold to a "try before you buy" policy. This allows a customer the option of trying out a recording on the stall's sound system
before purchase, to test it for defects and to determine if he or she likes the music. This policy has had a democratizing effect on the sale of cassettes
and indirectly exposes consumers to various local, regional and national styles.
s in Indonesia sell some Indonesian recordings, music boutiques in upscale malls tend to carry mostly Western music. Mall music stores market themselves as portals to the global music culture. In fact, a recent study of product placement in mall-based record stores found that as little as 10 percent of available shelf space in a typical store is devoted to Indonesian music
of any genre. Catering to customers from higher socioeconomic levels than those found among wareng kaset clientele, mall stores reflect the gedongan aspirations of middle- and upper-class consumers who see in music buying—-and, in particular, the purchase of CDs
--an opportunity to participate in the economy of popular culture across national boundaries.
vendors make their way through city streets pushing wooden carts outfitted with car stereo systems
. The cassettes
offered for sale, normally legitimate (not pirated) copies, are intended to appeal to the servants and warung proprietors of a neighborhood, not its more affluent residents. The selection of recordings is typically dominated by dangdut
and regional pop music. Since Western music is normally not offered in large quantities by mobile cassette vendors, these merchants are said to circumvent Jakarta's
prestige hierarchies by specifically targeting rural migrants as opposed to city people.
technologies have come somewhat late to Indonesia, enterprising technophiles have devised ways to create and distribute Indonesian popular music in digital form. Some years ago, many popular Indonesian tunes were distributed through the Internet
in MIDI
format, which allowed only instrumental versions of the songs to be transmitted. Another way that the problem of a lack of bandwidth
and other technical facilities in Indonesia has been addressed is entirely illegal and more local in approach. This is the distribution of so-called "CDs in mp3 format." Since 1997, these "data CDs" are sold in the larger shopping malls in Jakarta and other big cities. Fifteen or more popular music albums may be copied on these pirated CDs, which can be played on a PC
with the proper software
. The price of these pirated CDs
is very low: Rp.10,000 – 15,000. (The price of legal versions of those fifteen albums (cassette tapes
and audio CDs
) would be about Rp.300,000.) Through the medium of the World Wide Web
and as a free alternative to a music store
purchase, Indonesian popular music has circulated both within and outside of the nation's borders.
A second area of the popular music industry that has adapted significantly to the advent of digital technologies is the network of recording studio
s in the archipelago. Based mostly (but not exclusively) in urban centers, Indonesia's recording studio
s have increasingly diversified out of the template established by the country's two largest recording companies, P.N. Lokananta (the national recording company of Indonesia) and Hidup Baru. In contrast to the 1950s and 1960s, many studios
today are no longer owned solely by producers
. Increasingly, artists themselves decide to build home-based studios
furnished with up-to-date digital equipment
, usually imported from Singapore
. In particular, the rise of underground music (also called alternative music, or musik alternatif) has given individuals armed with music production skills and the appropriate tools a forum through which their recordings may be disseminated. The preferred method of producing and distributing Indonesian underground music is defiantly localist, operating outside the channels of the commercial music industry. For example, "underground" cassettes
are, as a rule, not found in mall stores, cassette stalls, or any other conventional retail outlet. It is, in fact, illegal to sell them, as the Indonesian government
does not collect any tax on the transaction. As a result, music producers
and the musicians they work with have since 2000 begun to open underground boutiques (toko underground) in Jakarta
, Bandung
, Surabaya
, Denpasar
and other locales. These establishments are often owned and operated by veteran underground scene members and sometimes include rehearsal and recording studio
s as well. Through an integration of the production and retail functions of popular music making, technology innovations in Indonesia increasingly occur in localized, underground settings, as they often have in other parts of the world. At the same time, new technologies have not overpowered popular music recording in Indonesia nor "Westernized" the musical life of the country. Rather, they have provided new possibilities for a range of recording and production
approaches.
and VCDs
is a thriving business in all large cities of Indonesia. For example, in the Glodok
business area in northern Jakarta
known as the city's "Chinatown," an estimated one million illegal copies of recordings are produced each day. Newspaper reports suggest that, in order to keep their financial losses under control, some recording companies
produce illegal copies themselves, right after launching their legal, registered and censored albums. With most legitimate Indonesian cassettes
costing over Rp.12,000 each, vendors of illegally copied versions priced at Rp.6,000 or less can attract many buyers. The quality of these pirated versions varies, but they are often not noticeably inferior to the originals. In addition to selling illegal copies of complete albums, pirated cassette
vendors sell unauthorized compilations
of current hit songs. These compilations
usually contain either dangdut
or pop songs, and they often combine songs released by different record label
s since they are not bound by copyright
restrictions. Thus, pirated hits compilations
are not only cheaper, but also more likely to contain all of the hit songs that are currently popular.
As efforts to curb piracy and illegal file sharing
have intensified worldwide, the Indonesian popular music industry has been compelled to face the legal and financial ramifications of these activities. For example, a legal initiative concerning royalty payments for the kroncong song Bengawan Solo, composed by the Javanese songwriter Gesang Martohartono
in 1949 and well-known and recorded in a number of Asian countries, became a matter of national controversy in 1989–1990 and created an awareness of cultural property and heritage that had not been there before. Nevertheless, piracy continues to shape the dynamic of the Indonesian popular music industry, particularly with respect to the illegal sale of "bootleg" audiocassettes recordings by American and European artists re-taped in Asia and sold at roughly a quarter of their original price. Although sales of these items had virtually ended by 1997, at the beginning of 2002 piracy had increased again to previously unknown levels. According to Arnel Affandi, the general manager of the Association of Recording Industries in Indonesia (ASIRI) for 2002–2005, it was estimated by the United States Trade Representative that in 1997 only 12% of the CDs and audio cassettes sold in the archipelago were illegal copies. In February 2002, 5 out of 6 of the audio cassettes, CDs and VCDs produced were illegal copies. The Office of the United States Trade Representative
has placed Indonesia on the priority watch list for violating copyright laws, especially with respect to VCDs
.
society, modern Indonesia exhibits xenocentrism
--the belief that a foreign, usually Western culture is superior to one's own—in its consumption of recorded music. According to the widespread xenocentric
view of musical value in Indonesia, local musics, or "musics of the village," are considered kampungan, repellently backward and low-class, while even higher status Indonesian pop cannot match to the greatness of international pop, and is forever subject to the accusation of simply imitating Western originals. In the same way that the record-buying community in Indonesia tends to prefer the popular culture of other countries over its own, contemporary Indonesians consider the concept of gengsi (social status) to be purveyed through their musical tastes. Modern Indonesian music buyers adhere to the following hierarchy of gengsi as it relates to popular music:
As this hierarchy demonstrates, Indonesian popular music, no matter how Westernized, is considered of lesser status than "international" Anglo-American music. It also shows that independent rock, produced and recorded outside the commercial mainstream, is granted very low status, regardless of its quality and the artistic or cultural value it may hold. Moreover, because Indonesia is a country in which class differences are obvious, frequently acknowledged, and pervasive in social life, music industry workers tend to view the Indonesian popular music market not as an entity composed of an undifferentiated mass of consumers, but as a ladder of different socioeconomic classes
. The class-inflected hierarchy of musical genres
is reflected in the range of retail prices for different types of cassette:
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
and VCDs, in Indonesia have evolved in tandem with the archipelago's ongoing integration of tradition and modernity.
History
The roots of Indonesia's history of recorded music practices can be traced to the emergence of nationalism in the early 20th century and the eventual independence of Indonesia from the Dutch in the 1940s. The struggle for a national identity rooted in a synthesis of Eastern and Western perspectives extended into the realm of music, with nationalists suggesting that Indonesia's national music be a form of indigenized Western music, such as kroncong. This sentiment led to the establishment of state-sponsored conservatories and academies of music in both JavaJava
Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...
and Bali
Bali
Bali is an Indonesian island located in the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east...
during the 1950s and 1960s, with similar schools established in Sumatra
Sumatra
Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 with a population of 50,365,538...
and Sulawesi
Sulawesi
Sulawesi is one of the four larger Sunda Islands of Indonesia and is situated between Borneo and the Maluku Islands. In Indonesia, only Sumatra, Borneo, and Papua are larger in territory, and only Java and Sumatra have larger Indonesian populations.- Etymology :The Portuguese were the first to...
during the 1970s. In this roughly twenty year period, the Indonesian government also institutionalized the recording of both traditional and popular music throughout the archipelago with its support of P.N. Lokananta, the national recording company of Indonesia, a branch of the government's Department of Information since the late 1950s. "Although scholars have detected a gradual narrowing in the geographic and genre purview of Lokananta's recording and marketing strategies, considering this to be at odds with its status and purpose as a national recording company, the introduction of audiocassette
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
recording technology in the 1960s gave rise to a robust industry of recorded music. In the 1970s, oil wealth and the relatively unrestricted import of cheap tape
Magnetic tape
Magnetic tape is a medium for magnetic recording, made of a thin magnetizable coating on a long, narrow strip of plastic. It was developed in Germany, based on magnetic wire recording. Devices that record and play back audio and video using magnetic tape are tape recorders and video tape recorders...
and recorders
Tape recorder
An audio tape recorder, tape deck, reel-to-reel tape deck, cassette deck or tape machine is an audio storage device that records and plays back sounds, including articulated voices, usually using magnetic tape, either wound on a reel or in a cassette, for storage...
led to an extraordinary boom of the Indonesian cassette
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
industry.
Central to the ongoing evolution of Indonesian popular music styles was an inherent tension between dueling aesthetics: gedongan ("refined", "international") and kampungan ("vulgar," "low class," "backward"). During the 1970s, the most prominent supporter of the gedongan style was Guruh Sukarno (born 1953), son of the first president of Indonesia
Sukarno
Sukarno, born Kusno Sosrodihardjo was the first President of Indonesia.Sukarno was the leader of his country's struggle for independence from the Netherlands and was Indonesia's first President from 1945 to 1967...
and a musician since his early teens. Long a student of classical Javanese
Music of Java
The Music of Java embraces a wide variety of styles, both traditional and contemporary, reflecting the diversity of the island and its lengthy history...
and Sundanese music while at the same time familiar with Western jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and classics, Guruh set out in 1974 to elevate existing Indonesian-Western pop music and create a kind of neoclassic, syncretic style that would be at once Indonesian and international. Contrasting in many ways with Rhoma Irama
Rhoma Irama
Raden Irama , most commonly known as Rhoma Irama, is an Indonesian dangdut musician and occasional actor...
and the many other dangdut
Dangdut
Dangdut is a genre of Indonesian popular music that is partly derived from Malay, Arabic, and Hindustani music. It developed in the 1970s among working-class Muslim youth, but beginning in the late 1990s reached a broader following in lower class Indonesians, Malaysia, and the southern...
singers popular during the 1970s, Guruh Sukarno was a member of the elite class and saw Indonesia's culture as pluralistic and inescapably mixed with influences from the West. Nevertheless, the 1970s also witnessed a gap between the rich and poor classes. Awareness of this gap, and sensitivity to the condition of the lower classes were central to the popularity of dangdut
Dangdut
Dangdut is a genre of Indonesian popular music that is partly derived from Malay, Arabic, and Hindustani music. It developed in the 1970s among working-class Muslim youth, but beginning in the late 1990s reached a broader following in lower class Indonesians, Malaysia, and the southern...
and the many genres it influenced.
Between the 1970s and 1990s, recorded Indonesian popular music grew to include, like most popular music
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
elsewhere in the world, the use of at least some Western instruments and Western harmony. It was increasingly disseminated through the mass media, performed by recognized stars, and became essentially a "commercial" genre. In the process of reformation (Reformasi) that was put into motion with the resignation of president Suharto and the fall of his New Order
New Order (Indonesia)
The New Order is the term coined by former Indonesian President Suharto to characterize his regime as he came to power in 1966. Suharto used this term to contrast his rule with that of his predecessor, Sukarno...
regime in 1998, popular music became a common vehicle of protest, and many songs, cassettes
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
and genres were labeled with the adjective reformasi..
Overview
Nearly all of the music sold in IndonesiaIndonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
today is in the form of pre-recorded cassettes
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
, but music is also available on compact disc
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
, video compact disc (VCD)
Video CD
Before the advent of DVD and Blu-ray, the Video CD became the first format for distributing films on standard 120 mm optical discs. The format is a standard digital format for storing video on a Compact Disc...
. and laser disc (LD)
Laserdisc
LaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...
. The latter two formats contain images as well as sounds, and are mainly used to accompany karaoke
Karaoke
is a form of interactive entertainment or video game in which amateur singers sing along with recorded music using a microphone and public address system. The music is typically a well-known pop song minus the lead vocal. Lyrics are usually displayed on a video screen, along with a moving symbol,...
performance. While the traditional, court-derived styles of gamelan
Gamelan
A gamelan is a musical ensemble from Indonesia, typically from the islands of Bali or Java, featuring a variety of instruments such as metallophones, xylophones, drums and gongs; bamboo flutes, bowed and plucked strings. Vocalists may also be included....
and wayang kulit have been frequently recorded, sales of popular music in Indonesia have increased dramatically with the emergence of the cassette tape
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
. Centered in Jakarta
Jakarta
Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...
, Indonesia's music industry defines popular music as either "national" or "regional." National genres, including Pop sunda
Pop sunda
Pop sunda or Sundanese pop is a form of pop music born in western part of island of Java in the 1970s which became internationally famous a decade later. It is very popular in some areas of Indonesia...
, kroncong
Kroncong
Kroncong is the name of a ukulele-type instrument and an Indonesian musical style that typically makes use of the kroncong , the band or combo or ensemble consist of a flute, a violin, a melody guitar, a cello in pizzicato style, string bass also in...
, dangdut
Dangdut
Dangdut is a genre of Indonesian popular music that is partly derived from Malay, Arabic, and Hindustani music. It developed in the 1970s among working-class Muslim youth, but beginning in the late 1990s reached a broader following in lower class Indonesians, Malaysia, and the southern...
, qasidah modern
Qasidah modern
Qasidah modern is a type of Indonesian music which originates from the word, Qasidah, an ancient Arabic word for religious poetry accompanied by chanting and percussion. Qasidah modern applies this to a greater audience. This form is popular throughout Egypt to Indonesia and embraces the local...
, rock, rap
Indonesian hip hop
Indonesian hip hop is hip hop music performed in Indonesia. Hip hop music began to be produced in Indonesia in the early 1990s, with the first Indonesia artist to release a full-length hip hop album being the emcee Iwa K, who has released five albums to date. Other Indonesian hip hop groups include...
, country, jazz, disco, house and Hawaiian, generally feature lyrics in Indonesian (though sometimes in English) and are marketed mainly in the urban regions throughout the archipelago, both as audio cassettes and compact discs. Sales trends, both regionally and nationally, are shifting towards popular music, which, in contrast to the field recordings of regional styles, is almost entirely a product of recording studio
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
s. In financial terms, the present day music industry in Indonesia is small by world standards, but it is the largest in Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
. Although cassette tapes
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
are still sold in large quantities, since 1997 these have been replaced more and more by VCDs
Video CD
Before the advent of DVD and Blu-ray, the Video CD became the first format for distributing films on standard 120 mm optical discs. The format is a standard digital format for storing video on a Compact Disc...
. Audio CDs
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
have never been big sellers, as their price is relatively high.
| Table 1: Average prices of popular music in different recorded formats, 2001-2002 | |
|---|---|
| Legal cassette tape of popular music | Rp.10,000 – 15,000 |
| Legal VCD | Rp.16,000 – 40,000 |
| Legal audio-CD | Rp.30,000 – 50,000 |
| Pirated Indonesian/Malaysian VCDs | Rp.6,000 – 10,000 |
Cassettes
Indonesia is said to have the largest cassetteCompact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
industry in the world. Given the country's cultural and ethnic diversity, the recording industry, and the cassette industry in particular, has displayed great complexity in its structure and in how it serves the many ethnically distinct regions of the country. While the CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
and the advent of digital technology has affected the production, dissemination and consumption of Indonesian popular music, cassette tapes remain the preferred source of recorded popular music for most Indonesians. The continued viability of the cassette medium in Indonesia springs from the fact that an audio cassette and the technology required to play it—-a simple cassette player/recorder
Cassette deck
A cassette deck is a type of tape recorder for playing or recording audio compact cassettes. A deck was formerly distinguished from a recorder as being part of a stereo component system, while a recorder had a self-contained power amplifier...
—-are within the financial means of most Indonesians, including the peasant class. As cassettes
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
and cassette players
Cassette deck
A cassette deck is a type of tape recorder for playing or recording audio compact cassettes. A deck was formerly distinguished from a recorder as being part of a stereo component system, while a recorder had a self-contained power amplifier...
have penetrated the remotest villages in Indonesia, they have also become part of the vernacular. For example, in addition to the older word ngrekam ("to record"), contemporary Javanese
Javanese language
Javanese language is the language of the Javanese people from the central and eastern parts of the island of Java, in Indonesia. In addition, there are also some pockets of Javanese speakers in the northern coast of western Java...
now includes words for the process of recording onto a commercial cassette:
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
"Gendhing kuwi wis dikasetkz" ("That piece has already been recorded on commercial cassette."). Much of what is available can be classified as "popular" music," including pop Berat (Western pop) and pop Indonesia (Indonesian pop). Also in abundance is pop Daerah, or regional pop, which is found all across Indonesia. Virtually all genres of pop Daerah are dependent on the cassette medium
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
for their audience. Some Pop Daerah genres are little more than cassette-company experiments, generating only a few performers and a handful of tapes, but others are firmly established, with many performers and steady production. Four genres—-Pop Batak, Pop Minang, Pop Sunda, and Pop Jawa—-are especially solid. In the case of these four, some of the production comes out of Jakarta
Jakarta
Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...
, relying upon Jakarta-based musicians and Jakarta facilities for recording, printing and distribution. However, most of the other regional genres are produced in their home regions (or in the nearby big cities). As a result, the cassette
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
industry is national, regional, and local in character. The broad marketing of cassettes
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
has not led to a musical homogenization or a weakening of regional styles. Rather, local cassette
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
industries have promoted regional styles because, rather than being large national corporations, they are regional "backyard" enterprises that record, dub, and market local music primarily for local consumption. Commercial cassettes
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
have also shaped the reputations of popular music performers, significantly raising the prestige and earning power of some recording artists while lowering them for others. Scholars have noted a trend towards the equalization of status for genres and marginal traditions through the distribution of cassettes;
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
the cassette
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
industry is said to act as a leveler, blurring the older status distinctions that were still in place a generation ago.
Video Compact Discs (VCDs)
Despite their ubiquity, the popularity of audio cassettesCompact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
has been compromised somewhat by competition from the rapidly growing video compact disc (VCD)
Video CD
Before the advent of DVD and Blu-ray, the Video CD became the first format for distributing films on standard 120 mm optical discs. The format is a standard digital format for storing video on a Compact Disc...
medium. Since the resignation of Suharto in 1998, VCDs, which are cheaper than audio CDs
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
, have gradually been taking over the role of audio cassettes, and as of 2002 the VCD medium was considered more important than the World Wide Web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
to Indonesian consumers. Particularly notable about the VCD is its ability to combine sound and image through the digital medium. Like other emerging technologies, VCD players have proven to be outlets, especially for Indonesian youth, for expressing a desire for modernity and cosmopolitanism at the same time. Featuring modern, Western-style music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
s that appear on MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
or VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
, professionally-produced VCDs also claim their contents to be karaoke
Karaoke
is a form of interactive entertainment or video game in which amateur singers sing along with recorded music using a microphone and public address system. The music is typically a well-known pop song minus the lead vocal. Lyrics are usually displayed on a video screen, along with a moving symbol,...
music, in which one can turn off the audio-channel with the sound of the vocalist, and just hear the accompaniment and see the images and text. As a source of participatory music making for the consumer, then, the VCD provides an opportunity for Indonesian consumers to interact directly with the body of popular music produced nationally.
On VCDs of pop Indonesia-—national, Western-style music with lyrics sung in Indonesian—the images are mainly urban: street life, cars, houses and other possessions are often featured prominently. Because VCDs are big business, erotic images are important on almost all of them, as are lyrics about love and romance. Images on pop Daerah (regional pop) music VCDs seem to be more restrained than on the national ones. Also, on the regional pop music VCDs the erotic images tend to be produced mainly by actors other than the singers (who "just sing"), whereas on the pop Indonesia VCDs, the singers tend to be more actively involved in producing them. Unfortunately, today the VCD format is associated with piracy, pornography
Pornography
Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
and political violence. Nevertheless, all VCDs have to pass the censor before being released, which is how the government controls both image and text. Beyond its social implications, the popular music industry in Indonesia makes use of a new type of oral tradition made possible by the VCD. By displaying song texts on screen and mentioning the songs' composers, legal VCDs serve as audiovisual "texts" for both national and regional pop music in Indonesia.
Retail outlets
Historically in Indonesia popular music has been sold to consumers through small retail outlets whose merchandise mainly consists of cassettesCompact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
and VCDs. Although music-related e-commerce
Electronic commerce
Electronic commerce, commonly known as e-commerce, eCommerce or e-comm, refers to the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. However, the term may refer to more than just buying and selling products online...
is a small sector in the country and mainly focuses on selling to customers outside Indonesia, it is more likely to contribute to the internationalization of what used to be national or regional Indonesian popular music. Unlike retailers, e-commerce
Electronic commerce
Electronic commerce, commonly known as e-commerce, eCommerce or e-comm, refers to the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. However, the term may refer to more than just buying and selling products online...
does not shape or reflect the consumption of Indonesian music
Music of Indonesia
The music of Indonesia demonstrates its cultural diversity, the local musical creativity, as well as subsequent foreign musical influences that shaped contemporary music scenes of Indonesia. Nearly thousands of Indonesian islands having its own cultural and artistic history and character. This...
by Indonesians. Like many institutions in Indonesia, popular music retail outlets are stratified by social class and generally calculate their sales activities based on the needs and interests of their intended audience.
Cassette stalls
Cassette stalls (warung kaset) typically are found in open-air markets in the poorer kampong (neighborhoods) of large Indonesian cities. They generally offer very few Western cassettesCompact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
for sale (and no compact discs
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
of any sort), but feature a wide variety of dangdut
Dangdut
Dangdut is a genre of Indonesian popular music that is partly derived from Malay, Arabic, and Hindustani music. It developed in the 1970s among working-class Muslim youth, but beginning in the late 1990s reached a broader following in lower class Indonesians, Malaysia, and the southern...
cassettes
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
. Warung kaset distinguish themselves sonically from the other stalls in a traditional market by the loud recorded music they broadcast to passersby. The type of music played depends on the sales clerk, though sentimental pop ballads, often in English, are a frequent choice.
Cassette stalls offer a unique music buying experience in that most hold to a "try before you buy" policy. This allows a customer the option of trying out a recording on the stall's sound system
Sound reinforcement system
A sound reinforcement system is the combination of microphones, signal processors, amplifiers, and loudspeakers that makes live or pre-recorded sounds louder and may also distribute those sounds to a larger or more distant audience...
before purchase, to test it for defects and to determine if he or she likes the music. This policy has had a democratizing effect on the sale of cassettes
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
and indirectly exposes consumers to various local, regional and national styles.
Mall stores
Like malls in the United States or Europe, nearly all Indonesian malls feature at least one store selling recorded music. While all record shopRecord shop
A record shop or record store is an outlet that sells recorded music. Although vinyl records and audio cassettes are no longer sold in the majority of music stores, in favour of compact discs and home video recordings products, people in some countries, like the UK, still use the term "record...
s in Indonesia sell some Indonesian recordings, music boutiques in upscale malls tend to carry mostly Western music. Mall music stores market themselves as portals to the global music culture. In fact, a recent study of product placement in mall-based record stores found that as little as 10 percent of available shelf space in a typical store is devoted to Indonesian music
Music of Indonesia
The music of Indonesia demonstrates its cultural diversity, the local musical creativity, as well as subsequent foreign musical influences that shaped contemporary music scenes of Indonesia. Nearly thousands of Indonesian islands having its own cultural and artistic history and character. This...
of any genre. Catering to customers from higher socioeconomic levels than those found among wareng kaset clientele, mall stores reflect the gedongan aspirations of middle- and upper-class consumers who see in music buying—-and, in particular, the purchase of CDs
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
--an opportunity to participate in the economy of popular culture across national boundaries.
Mobile cassette vendors
Mobile cassetteCompact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
vendors make their way through city streets pushing wooden carts outfitted with car stereo systems
Car audio
Car audio/video , auto radio, mobile audio, 12-volt and other terms are used to describe the sound or video system fitted in an automobile. While 12-volt audio and video systems are also used, marketed, or manufactured for marine, aviation, and buses, this article focuses on cars as the most common...
. The cassettes
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
offered for sale, normally legitimate (not pirated) copies, are intended to appeal to the servants and warung proprietors of a neighborhood, not its more affluent residents. The selection of recordings is typically dominated by dangdut
Dangdut
Dangdut is a genre of Indonesian popular music that is partly derived from Malay, Arabic, and Hindustani music. It developed in the 1970s among working-class Muslim youth, but beginning in the late 1990s reached a broader following in lower class Indonesians, Malaysia, and the southern...
and regional pop music. Since Western music is normally not offered in large quantities by mobile cassette vendors, these merchants are said to circumvent Jakarta's
Jakarta
Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...
prestige hierarchies by specifically targeting rural migrants as opposed to city people.
| Table 2: Recorded Music Sales Data for Indonesia (units sold), 1996-1999* | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 (Oct.) |
| Indonesian Cassettes | 65,396,589 | 49,794,676 | 27,635,739 | 30,100,077 |
| Foreign Cassettes | 11,374,089 | 14,005,340 | 9,637,200 | 11,395,590 |
| Indonesian CDs | 265,475 | 778,370 | 315,910 | 532,900 |
| Karaoke VCDs | 19,500 | 701,870 | 1,335,390 | 4,196,590 |
| Karaoke Laser Disc (LD) | 21,375 | 21,975 | 2,205 | 1,050 |
| Total | 77,552,008 | 67,356,071 | 41,658,674 | 48,312,497 |
- Legal (non-pirated) units only. Adapted from K.S. Theodore, "Industri Music Indonesia di Ujung Abad Ke 20," Buletin ASIRI 5 (1999): 10-11.
Technology
Driving the development of Indonesia's popular music recording industry is the ongoing adoption and use of sound technologies, particularly from the industrialized nations of the West. Electronic sound technology in Indonesia is relatively new, and it is largely imported. Though much in evidence throughout Indonesia, it is in some ways treated as something foreign, strange, and "outside the system." While InternetInternet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
technologies have come somewhat late to Indonesia, enterprising technophiles have devised ways to create and distribute Indonesian popular music in digital form. Some years ago, many popular Indonesian tunes were distributed through the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
in MIDI
Musical Instrument Digital Interface
MIDI is an industry-standard protocol, first defined in 1982 by Gordon Hall, that enables electronic musical instruments , computers and other electronic equipment to communicate and synchronize with each other...
format, which allowed only instrumental versions of the songs to be transmitted. Another way that the problem of a lack of bandwidth
Bandwidth (computing)
In computer networking and computer science, bandwidth, network bandwidth, data bandwidth, or digital bandwidth is a measure of available or consumed data communication resources expressed in bits/second or multiples of it .Note that in textbooks on wireless communications, modem data transmission,...
and other technical facilities in Indonesia has been addressed is entirely illegal and more local in approach. This is the distribution of so-called "CDs in mp3 format." Since 1997, these "data CDs" are sold in the larger shopping malls in Jakarta and other big cities. Fifteen or more popular music albums may be copied on these pirated CDs, which can be played on a PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
with the proper software
Computer software
Computer software, or just software, is a collection of computer programs and related data that provide the instructions for telling a computer what to do and how to do it....
. The price of these pirated CDs
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
is very low: Rp.10,000 – 15,000. (The price of legal versions of those fifteen albums (cassette tapes
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
and audio CDs
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
) would be about Rp.300,000.) Through the medium of the World Wide Web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
and as a free alternative to a music store
Record shop
A record shop or record store is an outlet that sells recorded music. Although vinyl records and audio cassettes are no longer sold in the majority of music stores, in favour of compact discs and home video recordings products, people in some countries, like the UK, still use the term "record...
purchase, Indonesian popular music has circulated both within and outside of the nation's borders.
A second area of the popular music industry that has adapted significantly to the advent of digital technologies is the network of recording studio
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
s in the archipelago. Based mostly (but not exclusively) in urban centers, Indonesia's recording studio
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
s have increasingly diversified out of the template established by the country's two largest recording companies, P.N. Lokananta (the national recording company of Indonesia) and Hidup Baru. In contrast to the 1950s and 1960s, many studios
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
today are no longer owned solely by producers
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
. Increasingly, artists themselves decide to build home-based studios
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
furnished with up-to-date digital equipment
Digital audio workstation
A digital audio workstation is an electronic system designed solely or primarily for recording, editing and playing back digital audio. DAWs were originally tape-less, microprocessor-based systems such as the Synclavier and Fairlight CMI...
, usually imported from Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
. In particular, the rise of underground music (also called alternative music, or musik alternatif) has given individuals armed with music production skills and the appropriate tools a forum through which their recordings may be disseminated. The preferred method of producing and distributing Indonesian underground music is defiantly localist, operating outside the channels of the commercial music industry. For example, "underground" cassettes
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
are, as a rule, not found in mall stores, cassette stalls, or any other conventional retail outlet. It is, in fact, illegal to sell them, as the Indonesian government
Politics of Indonesia
Politics of Indonesia takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Indonesia is both head of state and head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both...
does not collect any tax on the transaction. As a result, music producers
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
and the musicians they work with have since 2000 begun to open underground boutiques (toko underground) in Jakarta
Jakarta
Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...
, Bandung
Bandung
Bandung is the capital of West Java province in Indonesia, and the country's third largest city, and 2nd largest metropolitan area in Indonesia, with a population of 7.4 million in 2007. Located 768 metres above sea level, approximately 140 km southeast of Jakarta, Bandung has cooler...
, Surabaya
Surabaya
Surabaya is Indonesia's second-largest city with a population of over 2.7 million , and the capital of the province of East Java...
, Denpasar
Denpasar
Denpasar is the capital city of the province of Bali, Indonesia. It has a rapidly expanding population of 788,445 in 2010, up from 533,252 in the previous decade. It is located at .-History:...
and other locales. These establishments are often owned and operated by veteran underground scene members and sometimes include rehearsal and recording studio
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
s as well. Through an integration of the production and retail functions of popular music making, technology innovations in Indonesia increasingly occur in localized, underground settings, as they often have in other parts of the world. At the same time, new technologies have not overpowered popular music recording in Indonesia nor "Westernized" the musical life of the country. Rather, they have provided new possibilities for a range of recording and production
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
approaches.
Piracy
Pirating audiocassettesCompact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
and VCDs
Video CD
Before the advent of DVD and Blu-ray, the Video CD became the first format for distributing films on standard 120 mm optical discs. The format is a standard digital format for storing video on a Compact Disc...
is a thriving business in all large cities of Indonesia. For example, in the Glodok
Glodok
Glodok is a part of the Jakarta, Indonesia. The area is also known as Pecinan or Chinatown since the Dutch colonial era, and is considered the biggest in Indonesia, as a majority of the traders in Glodok are of Chinese descent...
business area in northern Jakarta
Jakarta
Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...
known as the city's "Chinatown," an estimated one million illegal copies of recordings are produced each day. Newspaper reports suggest that, in order to keep their financial losses under control, some recording companies
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
produce illegal copies themselves, right after launching their legal, registered and censored albums. With most legitimate Indonesian cassettes
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
costing over Rp.12,000 each, vendors of illegally copied versions priced at Rp.6,000 or less can attract many buyers. The quality of these pirated versions varies, but they are often not noticeably inferior to the originals. In addition to selling illegal copies of complete albums, pirated cassette
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
vendors sell unauthorized compilations
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
of current hit songs. These compilations
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
usually contain either dangdut
Dangdut
Dangdut is a genre of Indonesian popular music that is partly derived from Malay, Arabic, and Hindustani music. It developed in the 1970s among working-class Muslim youth, but beginning in the late 1990s reached a broader following in lower class Indonesians, Malaysia, and the southern...
or pop songs, and they often combine songs released by different record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
s since they are not bound by copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
restrictions. Thus, pirated hits compilations
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
are not only cheaper, but also more likely to contain all of the hit songs that are currently popular.
As efforts to curb piracy and illegal file sharing
File sharing
File sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digitally stored information, such as computer programs, multimedia , documents, or electronic books. It may be implemented through a variety of ways...
have intensified worldwide, the Indonesian popular music industry has been compelled to face the legal and financial ramifications of these activities. For example, a legal initiative concerning royalty payments for the kroncong song Bengawan Solo, composed by the Javanese songwriter Gesang Martohartono
Gesang Martohartono
Gesang Martohartono was a renowned Indonesian singer-songwriter from central Java, and he is the composer of the song Bengawan Solo, a tune which has become famous throughout Indonesia, Japan, much of Asia, and some other countries in the world. The song is almost synonymous with the kroncong...
in 1949 and well-known and recorded in a number of Asian countries, became a matter of national controversy in 1989–1990 and created an awareness of cultural property and heritage that had not been there before. Nevertheless, piracy continues to shape the dynamic of the Indonesian popular music industry, particularly with respect to the illegal sale of "bootleg" audiocassettes recordings by American and European artists re-taped in Asia and sold at roughly a quarter of their original price. Although sales of these items had virtually ended by 1997, at the beginning of 2002 piracy had increased again to previously unknown levels. According to Arnel Affandi, the general manager of the Association of Recording Industries in Indonesia (ASIRI) for 2002–2005, it was estimated by the United States Trade Representative that in 1997 only 12% of the CDs and audio cassettes sold in the archipelago were illegal copies. In February 2002, 5 out of 6 of the audio cassettes, CDs and VCDs produced were illegal copies. The Office of the United States Trade Representative
Office of the United States Trade Representative
The Office of the United States Trade Representative is the United States government agency responsible for developing and recommending United States trade policy to the president of the United States, conducting trade negotiations at bilateral and multilateral levels, and coordinating trade...
has placed Indonesia on the priority watch list for violating copyright laws, especially with respect to VCDs
Video CD
Before the advent of DVD and Blu-ray, the Video CD became the first format for distributing films on standard 120 mm optical discs. The format is a standard digital format for storing video on a Compact Disc...
.
| Table 3: Estimated figures of production numbers for the year 2001. | |
|---|---|
| Legal copies of Indonesian audiocassettes | 30- 35 million |
| Illegal copies of Indonesian audiocassettes | 200 million |
| Illegal copies of Indonesian VCDs (karaoke) | 120 million |
| Illegal copies of foreign audiocassettes | 50 million |
Class and status consciousness
As a post-colonialPostcolonialism
Post-colonialism is a specifically post-modern intellectual discourse that consists of reactions to, and analysis of, the cultural legacy of colonialism...
society, modern Indonesia exhibits xenocentrism
Xenocentrism
Xenocentrism is a political neologism, coined as the antonym of ethnocentrism. Xenocentrism is the preference for the products, styles, or ideas of someone else's culture rather than of one's own...
--the belief that a foreign, usually Western culture is superior to one's own—in its consumption of recorded music. According to the widespread xenocentric
Xenocentrism
Xenocentrism is a political neologism, coined as the antonym of ethnocentrism. Xenocentrism is the preference for the products, styles, or ideas of someone else's culture rather than of one's own...
view of musical value in Indonesia, local musics, or "musics of the village," are considered kampungan, repellently backward and low-class, while even higher status Indonesian pop cannot match to the greatness of international pop, and is forever subject to the accusation of simply imitating Western originals. In the same way that the record-buying community in Indonesia tends to prefer the popular culture of other countries over its own, contemporary Indonesians consider the concept of gengsi (social status) to be purveyed through their musical tastes. Modern Indonesian music buyers adhere to the following hierarchy of gengsi as it relates to popular music:
- Western popular music
- pop Indonesia (Western-style pop music sung in Indonesian)
- DangdutDangdutDangdut is a genre of Indonesian popular music that is partly derived from Malay, Arabic, and Hindustani music. It developed in the 1970s among working-class Muslim youth, but beginning in the late 1990s reached a broader following in lower class Indonesians, Malaysia, and the southern...
- Pop Daerah (regional [pop)
- Indie rock
As this hierarchy demonstrates, Indonesian popular music, no matter how Westernized, is considered of lesser status than "international" Anglo-American music. It also shows that independent rock, produced and recorded outside the commercial mainstream, is granted very low status, regardless of its quality and the artistic or cultural value it may hold. Moreover, because Indonesia is a country in which class differences are obvious, frequently acknowledged, and pervasive in social life, music industry workers tend to view the Indonesian popular music market not as an entity composed of an undifferentiated mass of consumers, but as a ladder of different socioeconomic classes
Social class
Social classes are economic or cultural arrangements of groups in society. Class is an essential object of analysis for sociologists, political scientists, economists, anthropologists and social historians. In the social sciences, social class is often discussed in terms of 'social stratification'...
. The class-inflected hierarchy of musical genres
Music genre
A music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other types of music...
is reflected in the range of retail prices for different types of cassette:
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
| Table 4: Legitimate (Non-Pirated) Indonesian Popular Music Cassette Prices by Genre, June 2000. | |
|---|---|
| Western pop | Rp.20,000 ($2.50) |
| Pop Indonesia | Rp.16,000 to Rp.18,000 ($2.00 to $2.25) |
| Dangdut | Rp.12,000 to Rp.14,000 ($1.50 to $1.75) |
| Regional pop (Pop Daerah) | Rp.10,000 to Rp.13,000 ($1.25 to $1.63) |
| Underground/Indie | Rp.10,000 to Rp.17,000 ($1.25 to $2.13) |
Indonesian popular music genres
- DangdutDangdutDangdut is a genre of Indonesian popular music that is partly derived from Malay, Arabic, and Hindustani music. It developed in the 1970s among working-class Muslim youth, but beginning in the late 1990s reached a broader following in lower class Indonesians, Malaysia, and the southern...
- KroncongKroncongKroncong is the name of a ukulele-type instrument and an Indonesian musical style that typically makes use of the kroncong , the band or combo or ensemble consist of a flute, a violin, a melody guitar, a cello in pizzicato style, string bass also in...
- JaiponganJaiponganJaipongan, also known as Jaipong, is a popular traditional dance of Sundanese people, West Java, Indonesia. The dance was created by Gugum Gumbira, based on traditional Sundanese Ketuk Tilu music and Pencak Silat movements.- Background :...
- Qasidah modernQasidah modernQasidah modern is a type of Indonesian music which originates from the word, Qasidah, an ancient Arabic word for religious poetry accompanied by chanting and percussion. Qasidah modern applies this to a greater audience. This form is popular throughout Egypt to Indonesia and embraces the local...
- Indonesian hip hopIndonesian hip hopIndonesian hip hop is hip hop music performed in Indonesia. Hip hop music began to be produced in Indonesia in the early 1990s, with the first Indonesia artist to release a full-length hip hop album being the emcee Iwa K, who has released five albums to date. Other Indonesian hip hop groups include...
Indonesian popular music stars
- Rhoma IramaRhoma IramaRaden Irama , most commonly known as Rhoma Irama, is an Indonesian dangdut musician and occasional actor...
- Ebiet G. AdeEbiet G. AdeEbiet G. Ade is an Indonesian singer and songwriter. His musical styles are pop, ballad and country. He has released 21 studio albums and 25 compilation albums.-Early life:...
- Iwan FalsIwan FalsIwan Fals is an Indonesian singer–songwriter. In 2002, Time magazine named him as a Great Asian Hero.-Early life:...
- ChrisyeChrisyeChrismansyah Rahadi , better known by his stage name Chrisye , was an Indonesian progressive-pop singer and song writer of mixed Chinese-Indonesian descent. He was born in Jakarta on 16 September 1949, and died there on 30 March 2007 following a long battle with lung cancer. He recorded 21 solo...