Indonesia


Leo Rustandi
Age: 34

My Job Title

Event Producer / Promoter / Festival Director / Managing Director / Label Executive / Band Manager - Nepathya, Jakarta, Indonesia;
Jakarta Movement, Jakarta, Indonesia; Swarabumi, Jakarta, Indonesia;
Gowa, Jakarta, Indonesia

My Education

Williams College, Sydney, NSW, Australia / Management (1991-1994)

My Work

"I believe the most effective way of promoting music is thru performance. I built my company (Nepathya) to manage and promote events (concerts, corporate events and festivals). To stand out from the pack, we produces events that are innovative to the market. Such innovation would include: alternative entertainment experience, special venues, bespoke decoration, as well as branding for the sponsors. I believe by doing this, we can generate more satisfied audiences. The events vary from rock concert to musical drama and Festival. To name a few, they are: Craig David Concert Tour, Linkin Park Concert, Titi DJ Concert, Mahadaya Cinta, Cookin Nanta, Jakarta Movement Electronic Music Festival, Jakarta Java Jazz Festival. My role within these projects varies from Project Manager, Creative Director, Production Director, Festival Director, Crowd Control Manager to Programme Director.

On top of that, I am currently working on managing and producing music album as well as running a couple of independent record labels (SWARABUMI and GOWA). SWARABUMI have produced Humania (1993, 1996, 1999), Ermy Kullit (1999), Maliq and D'essentials (2004, 2007). GOWA have produced ParkDrive (2005) and licensed a European band D'sound (2006). I have worked in this business of Music in Indonesia for a little over 10 years and I have a vision that there are a lot that needs to be done in this industry and business can be promising in the near future. Having said that, I think I would be considered as a music entrepreneur."

Issues in the music industry in my country

I have been in the industry for a while, from managing bands, producing music albums, producing events, etc. Our first Album sold over 150,000 copies in 1994. Our yearly Music festivals, Jakarta Movement were attended by over 12,000 people on average. Our concerts have been attended by 1,000 to 45,000 people. Therefore, most of our work are acceptable the markets in Indonesia, which are mostly youth and in turn these projects also help shape the youth culture in Indonesia. I would have to admit that when I first started, the industry are somewhat skeptical to the works we are going to produce, i.e. (1) on my first album work (Humania, Terserah, 1993), the record industry are saying that these cannot be accepted by the market because the music are 8 years in advance and yet this album sold 150,000 copies. (2) when I was planning my festival (Gatecrasher Global Sound System which then become Jakarta Movement), the live industry said that this will not work because people are not used to outdoor events, but yet, we sold more than 12,000 tickets that night. I believe the above have stimulate the senses of artist and event producers to create and presents a more cutting edge products.

Having mentioned the above, I think the main issues in Indonesian's music scene are as follows:

• Most people would prefer to stick with the same old formula in Live industry, and this will not stimulate the market (negative)
• Lack of opportunity for Indonesian talent to perform internationally (negative)
• Due to the financial setback by Indonesia in 1997, fewer international acts are able to perform here in Indonesia (negative)
• There are more talents producing their own original music in Indonesia nowadays, and the appreciation level of music has increased greatly (positive)
• More people want to do music events, (and yes, this is positive), but if they are not equipped with the knowledge, this could have a negative impact.

Innovative artists & music business trends from my country

Independent music producers & DJs have been very productive this past 3 years, and these trends have never been seen before in Indonesia. Most of them are aiming to get International recognition on their work. Indonesian produced music does not have any chance to be marketed Internationally due to language barrier (as told by the major labels). I would like to take this opportunity to start with promoting electronic and DJ produced music, as these will be easier to be digested by theinternational market, due to the boom of DJ and electronic band based entertainment internationally. In most of my recent work, I have collaborated a few DJs and live bands and produce remix tracks.

I have also produced a compilation of Indonesian electronic music in a double CD format. These are the products that I would like to carry for a start to introduce Indonesian music scene internationally. Should the network established, we could promote more Indonesian acts internationally. On the management and agency side, I am currently in communication with a well-known European website which specializes in agency and management network to open a rep office here in Indonesia, as I strongly believe this would open more doors for the local industry as well.

The information above is taken from the application form completed by the finalist in early 2007. Things may have changed since this information was provided and we recommend that you should not rely upon this information as a definitive statement of current fact. Click here to contact the finalist.