Indonesian popular music recordings

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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

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

cassette industry.[3]

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.[4] 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.[5] 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.[6]

Between the 1970s and 1990s, recorded Indonesian popular music grew to include, like most

cassettes and genres were labeled with the adjective reformasi..[8]

Popular Music Recordings in Indonesia Today

Overview

Nearly all of the music sold in

Audio CDs have never been big sellers, as their price is relatively high.[12]

Table 1: Average prices of popular music in different recorded formats, 2001–2002[13]
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
Bootlegged Indonesian/Malaysian VCDs Rp.6,000 – 10,000

Cassettes

Indonesia is said to have the largest

cassette industry is said to act as a leveler, blurring the older status distinctions that were still in place a generation ago.[14]

Video Compact Discs (VCDs)

Despite their ubiquity, the popularity of

audio CDs, have gradually been taking over the role of audio cassettes,[18] and as of 2002 the VCD medium was considered more important than the World Wide Web to Indonesian consumers.[19] 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.[20] Featuring modern, Western-style music videos 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.[20]
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 profitable, 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

VCD.[22] 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.[23]

Retail outlets

Historically in Indonesia popular music has been sold to consumers through small retail outlets whose merchandise mainly consists of

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.

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

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.[24]

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

cassettes
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 shops 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.[25] 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.

Mobile cassette vendors

Mobile

cassettes offered for sale, normally legitimate (not infringed) 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.[26] 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.[27]

Table 2: Recorded Music Sales Data for Indonesia (units sold), 1996-1999*[28]
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 units only. Adapted from K.S. Theodore, "Industri Music Indonesia di Ujung Abad Ke 20," Buletin ASIRI 5 (1999): 10–11.

Additional factors

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."

audio CDs) would be about Rp.300,000.)[30] 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

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.[32] 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 studios as well.[33] 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.[34]

Copyright infringement

Bootlegging

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 labels since they are not bound by copyright restrictions. Thus, infringing hits compilations are not only cheaper, but also more likely to contain all of the hit songs that are currently popular.[27]

As efforts to curb illegal distribution and 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.[36] Nevertheless, infringement 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 copyright violation 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.[37]

Table 3: Estimated figures of production numbers for the year 2001.[36]
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

Some foreigners believe that as a post-colonial 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.[31] 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.[38] 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:

  1. Western popular music
  2. pop Indonesia (Western-style pop music sung in Indonesian)
  3. Dangdut
  4. Pop Daerah (regional pop)
  5. Indie rock

As this hierarchy demonstrates, Indonesian popular music, no matter how Westernized, is considered of lesser status than "international" Anglo-American music.

cassette:

Table 4: Legitimate (Non-infringing) Indonesian Popular Music Cassette Prices by Genre, June 2000.[39]
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)

See also

Indonesian popular music genres

Indonesian popular music stars

References

  1. ^ a b DR Sumarsam, "Indonesia, History: Post-colonial," Grove Music Online, 2008, Online (4 January 2008).
  2. ^ a b c Roger Vetter, "Lokananta: A Discography of the National Recording Company of Indonesia by Philip Yampolsky (Book Review)," Asian Music 19:2 (Spring – Summer, 1988): 161, JSTOR, Online (11 January 2008).
  3. ^ Peter Manuel and Randall Beier, "Jaipongan: Indigenous Popular Music of West Java," Asian Music 18:1 (Autumn – Winter, 1986): xxx, JSTOR, Online (7 January 2008).
  4. ^ William H. Frederick, "Rhoma Irama and the Dangdut Style: Aspects of Contemporary Indonesian Culture," Indonesia 34 (Oct., 1982): 125, JSTOR, Online (4 January 2008)
  5. ^ R. Anderson Sutton, "Indonesian Popular Music," in Worlds of Music, Ed. Jeff Todd Titon (New York, Schirmer Books, 1992), p. 312.
  6. ^ William H. Frederick, "Rhoma Irama and the Dangdut Style: Aspects of Contemporary Indonesian Culture," Indonesia 34 (Oct., 1982): 128-129, JSTOR, Online (4 January 2008)
  7. ^ R. Anderson Sutton, "Indonesian Popular Music," in Worlds of Music, Ed. Jeff Todd Titon (New York, Schirmer Books, 1992), p. 310.
  8. ^ Bart Barendregt and Wim van Zanten, "Popular Music in Indonesia Since 1998, in Particular Fusion, Indie and Islamic Music on Video Compact Discs and the Internet," Yearbook for Traditional Music 34 (2002): 71, JSTOR, Online (4 January 2008)
  9. ^ Jeremy Wallach, "Exploring Class, Nation and Xenocentrism in Indonesian Cassette Retail Outlets," Indonesia 74 (Oct., 2002): 87, JSTOR, Online (7 January 2008)
  10. ^ Bart Barendregt and Wim van Zanten, "Popular Music in Indonesia Since 1998, in Particular Fusion, Indie and Islamic Music on Video Compact Discs and the Internet," Yearbook for Traditional Music 34 (2002): 68, JSTOR, Online (4 January 2008)
  11. ^ a b Bart Barendregt and Wim van Zanten, "Popular Music in Indonesia Since 1998, in Particular Fusion, Indie and Islamic Music on Video Compact Discs and the Internet," Yearbook for Traditional Music 34 (2002): 81, JSTOR, Online (4 January 2008)
  12. ^ Bart Barendregt and Wim van Zanten, "Popular Music in Indonesia Since 1998, in Particular Fusion, Indie and Islamic Music on Video Compact Discs and the Internet," Yearbook for Traditional Music 34 (2002): 88, JSTOR, Online (4 January 2008)
  13. ^ Bart Barendregt and Wim van Zanten, "Popular Music in Indonesia Since 1998, in Particular Fusion, Indie and Islamic Music on Video Compact Discs and the Internet," Yearbook for Traditional Music 34 (2002): 88, JSTOR, Online (4 January 2008)
  14. ^ a b c d R. Anderson Sutton, Commercial Cassette Recordings of Traditional Music in Java: Implications for Performers and Scholars, 1990, http://members.ai5.net/[email protected]/cassettemythos/RAndersonSutton.html.
  15. ^ Philip Yampolsky, ""Hati Yang Luka," and Indonesian Hit," Indonesia 47 (Apr., 1989): 13, JSTOR, Online (7 January 2008).
  16. ^ Peter Manuel and Randall Beier, "Jaipongan: Indigenous Popular Music of West Java," Asian Music 18:1 (Autumn – Winter, 1986): 99, JSTOR, Online (7 January 2008).
  17. ^ Jeremy Wallach, "Exploring Class, Nation and Xenocentrism in Indonesian Cassette Retail Outlets," Indonesia 74 (Oct., 2002): 88, JSTOR, Online (7 January 2008).
  18. ^ Bart Barendregt and Wim van Zanten, "Popular Music in Indonesia Since 1998, in Particular Fusion, Indie and Islamic Music on Video Compact Discs and the Internet," Yearbook for Traditional Music 34 (2002): 68, JSTOR, Online (4 January 2008).
  19. ^ Bart Barendregt and Wim van Zanten, "Popular Music in Indonesia Since 1998, in Particular Fusion, Indie and Islamic Music on Video Compact Discs and the Internet," Yearbook for Traditional Music 34 (2002): 89, JSTOR, Online (4 January 2008).
  20. ^ a b Bart Barendregt and Wim van Zanten, "Popular Music in Indonesia Since 1998, in Particular Fusion, Indie and Islamic Music on Video Compact Discs and the Internet," Yearbook for Traditional Music 34 (2002): 91, JSTOR, Online (4 January 2008).
  21. ^ Bart Barendregt and Wim van Zanten, "Popular Music in Indonesia Since 1998, in Particular Fusion, Indie and Islamic Music on Video Compact Discs and the Internet," Yearbook for Traditional Music 34 (2002): 91, JSTOR, Online (4 January 2008).
  22. ^ a b Bart Barendregt and Wim van Zanten, "Popular Music in Indonesia Since 1998, in Particular Fusion, Indie and Islamic Music on Video Compact Discs and the Internet," Yearbook for Traditional Music 34 (2002): 101, JSTOR, Online (4 January 2008).
  23. ^ Bart Barendregt and Wim van Zanten, "Popular Music in Indonesia Since 1998, in Particular Fusion, Indie and Islamic Music on Video Compact Discs and the Internet," Yearbook for Traditional Music 34 (2002): 90, JSTOR, Online (4 January 2008).
  24. ^ a b Jeremy Wallach, "Exploring Class, Nation and Xenocentrism in Indonesian Cassette Retail Outlets," Indonesia 74 (Oct., 2002): 89, JSTOR, Online (7 January 2008).
  25. ^ Jeremy Wallach, "Exploring Class, Nation and Xenocentrism in Indonesian Cassette Retail Outlets," Indonesia 74 (Oct., 2002): 91, JSTOR, Online (7 January 2008).
  26. ^ Jeremy Wallach, "Exploring Class, Nation and Xenocentrism in Indonesian Cassette Retail Outlets," Indonesia 74 (Oct., 2002): 96-97, JSTOR, Online (7 January 2008).
  27. ^ a b c Jeremy Wallach, "Exploring Class, Nation and Xenocentrism in Indonesian Cassette Retail Outlets," Indonesia 74 (Oct., 2002): 97, JSTOR, Online (7 January 2008).
  28. ^ Jeremy Wallach, "Exploring Class, Nation and Xenocentrism in Indonesian Cassette Retail Outlets," Indonesia 74 (Oct., 2002): 87, JSTOR, Online (7 January 2008).
  29. ^ R. Anderson Sutton, "Interpreting Electronic Sound Technology in the Contemporary Javanese Soundscape," Ethnomusicology 40:2 (Spring – Summer 1996): 265, JSTOR, Online (7 January 2008).
  30. ^ a b Bart Barendregt and Wim van Zanten, "Popular Music in Indonesia Since 1998, in Particular Fusion, Indie and Islamic Music on Video Compact Discs and the Internet," Yearbook for Traditional Music 34 (2002): 99-100, JSTOR, Online (4 January 2008).
  31. ^ a b Jeremy Wallach, "Exploring Class, Nation and Xenocentrism in Indonesian Cassette Retail Outlets," Indonesia 74 (Oct., 2002): 82, JSTOR, Online (7 January 2008).
  32. ^ Jeremy Wallach, "Exploring Class, Nation and Xenocentrism in Indonesian Cassette Retail Outlets," Indonesia 74 (Oct., 2002): 98, JSTOR, Online (7 January 2008).
  33. ^ Jeremy Wallach, "Exploring Class, Nation and Xenocentrism in Indonesian Cassette Retail Outlets," Indonesia 74 (Oct., 2002): 100, JSTOR, Online (7 January 2008).
  34. ^ R. Anderson Sutton, "Interpreting Electronic Sound Technology in the Contemporary Javanese Soundscape," Ethnomusicology 40:2 (Spring – Summer 1996): 249, JSTOR, Online (7 January 2008).
  35. ^ Bart Barendregt and Wim van Zanten, "Popular Music in Indonesia Since 1998, in Particular Fusion, Indie and Islamic Music on Video Compact Discs and the Internet," Yearbook for Traditional Music 34 (2002): 88, JSTOR, Online (4 January 2008).
  36. ^ a b Bart Barendregt and Wim van Zanten, "Popular Music in Indonesia Since 1998, in Particular Fusion, Indie and Islamic Music on Video Compact Discs and the Internet," Yearbook for Traditional Music 34 (2002): 87, JSTOR, Online (4 January 2008).
  37. ^ Bart Barendregt and Wim van Zanten, "Popular Music in Indonesia Since 1998, in Particular Fusion, Indie and Islamic Music on Video Compact Discs and the Internet," Yearbook for Traditional Music 34 (2002): 87, JSTOR, Online (4 January 2008).
  38. ^ a b Jeremy Wallach, "Exploring Class, Nation and Xenocentrism in Indonesian Cassette Retail Outlets," Indonesia 74 (Oct., 2002): 102, JSTOR, Online (7 January 2008).
  39. ^ Jeremy Wallach, "Exploring Class, Nation and Xenocentrism in Indonesian Cassette Retail Outlets," Indonesia 74 (Oct., 2002): 86, JSTOR, Online (7 January 2008).
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