[Music Monday] Music Labels, Make Something Simple And Put It On The Web!

As covered by DailySocial a few days ago, Touchten launched a music app in collaboration with Aquarius Musikindo, one of the ‘major independent’ labels (this is the term they use in the industry to note a large music label not affiliated with the Big Four: Sony, Universal Music, Warner Music and EMI). This move deserves applause as it shows that the music labels are willing to try out untested new waters, instead of trying to find a new medium to repeat the old business model of record music and profit by amount of sold copies.

I mean, if we’re going to move on from the issue if piracy, we might as well try something new. The increasing trend of concerts being a major income contributor for musicians has emphasized that the recorded music itself, obtained legally or illegally, is a way to sell a music experience, which in some cases in better enjoyed live.

I think if you checked each person who came to a Katy Perry concert, not all would have bought the original CD – but they definitely have paid full price to buy the concert tickets. Why? Because the concert is an irreplaceable experience, with different meaning to different people. Just like the songs themselves.

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[Simply Business] Believe in Your Stupid Ideas

There is a very thin line between a brilliant idea and a stupid idea. Some ideas just didn’t make sense at the time, but it may made more sense in the future. Some are just plain stupid. You may think you can differentiate instantly between the two, but that’s not always the case.

For example, let’s take a look at Encarta vs Wikipedia. Both are encyclopedia with massive amount of articles covering various fields and languages. One was made by a giant company written by (maybe) thousands of selected experts and the other was from a non-profit charitable organization written by anonymous internet volunteers who write without pay.

Now if I were to ask you which one will win based on the above statement alone, what answer will you give me?

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[Music Monday] Why You Should Care About Ringback Tones

For many in Indonesia, the ringback tone is somewhat of a controversial issue; drawing the ire of many, and polarizing related industries into an almost “for-and-against” situation. But not too long ago, ringbacktones were the craze of the moment and the darling of the music industry (and remains the darling of the music industry, depending on who you ask). And not only the music industry – the soaring growth of the ringbacktone market was one of the first indications that Indonesia, as a digital content market, is simply different from other countries and plays by different rules.

I have been writing about how music startups have actually been around in Indonesia for the past 6-7 years or so, and I felt it fitting to dedicate the last post in the series to discuss the ringback tone. Popularized in Korea to replace that boring connecting tone when you wait for the person on the other end to pick up your call, ringback tones (also known as ‘color ringback tones’, as they added ‘color’ to your ringback tone), the technology was imported into Indonesia in 2004 when both Indosat and Telkomsel started building their ringback tone services and offered them to the public later that year. The telecommunication companies approached the music labels to obtain attractive content for these services; negotiations took place, and business deals were agreed which were to define the business model for ringback tones across the industry.

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[Dailyssimo] E-commerce in Indonesia, What We Need Is a Service That We Can Trust

Opening an online shop is much easier than opening a regular shop; at least it can be measured from cost factor. However, inviting buyer to come and be a customer of a store is much more complex than just opening it. Let me invite you to examine from various point of views.

For a buyer, money is something sensitive. A buyer would never want to give their money in exchange for an item if they do not want the item or if there is something that makes it hard to get the goods after they made the payment.

Just imagine, if you want to buy a music CD, the options are to purchase it at nearest CD store or at on online shop. What do you think will be the consideration?

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[Simply Business] Getting Your Startup to its First Million Users

I’m truly amazed with how 30 million people can be drawn to Instagram or 50 million to Draw Something, not to mention 800+ million users on Facebook. It’s really interesting to see them grow, but what interests me more is how they can get their first million users. How did they do that? Of course the next obvious question is how you can implement their strategy to your own startup?

Rama wrote a great piece about this topic as well yesterday, he suggested that we go directly to phone manufacturers and telcos. If you’re in a content or mobile app business then this is totally true. But it may not work if you’re in e-commerce like me. I myself prefer a more simple and direct approach, so here are the top three ways that I learned from my research.

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[Simply Business] Money First, Passion Will Follow

I still remember the look on my father’s face when I told him I wanted to quit my day job. It was years ago but it still feels like yesterday. The disappointing, confused look that says “Why? why would you leave a good job like that?” The young me naively said to him in a voice full of confidence that I wanted to pursue my creative passion and make a design agency.

I did create a design agency and my dream came true. Two years after that, the company went bankrupt, I failed. I didn’t have the right business model, never made a business plan and hadn’t dealt with company cash flow all my life. It is a surprise that the company even made it to 2 years. Fun times.

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[Music Monday] Actually, Music Startups In Indonesia Have Been Around For A While (Part 2)

Last week, I wrote a basic introduction of the unsung music startup in Indonesia, the content providers. This week I want to write a bit more about how they came into being and how they make money from digital music. Of course, any industry that makes tons of money is not without controversy, so I’ll also touch on that. But on the whole, the ringtone market in Indonesia actually was born from what we now call crowdsourcing – as back then it was easy to make monophonic ringtones, with your PC or even with your phone, people made and shared their creations through online forums. Then somebody had the idea to sell these homemade ringtones to others. Eventually, they started hiring people to make these ringtones themselves.

In the early 2000s, companies wanting to capitalize on the ringtone business had to use a premium 0809 number through a landline number – the same prefix used for premium sex calls – where a user would select a ringtone via the Interactive Voice Response system, and then the ringtone would be sent directly to the mobile phone. Early players were PT Katagiprima (now Iguana Technology), and Klub Mobile. Klub Mobile was notable since they were shut down by a lawsuit from the song publishers in 2003, who sued because Klub Mobile was selling their intellectual property – songs – without permission and without any royalty payments.

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[Simply Business] Why Would You Buy Online?

As an owner of an e-commerce business, It’s embarrassing for me to confess that I don’t really shop online much. I’ve only done it about a dozen times in all my years of living. I’m a bit old-fashioned when it comes to shopping, I love to touch the item I want to buy and I love the ‘going-out’ part of shopping. I think most Indonesians share the same behavior, especially older people.

Before buying anything, I would usually research for the price and nearest availability of the items that I want to buy. I hate paying for delivery cost even if it’s only Rp. 5000 and I hate waiting even for a day. I’d rather go to a physical store to get it so I can see it for myself and get it on the same day rather than buy it online, wait for it to arrive the next day or later, and maybe feel disappointed if it doesn’t match my expectations.

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[Music Monday] Actually, Music Startups In Indonesia Have Been Around For A While (Part 1)

What is a startup, actually? And in the context of DailySocial, what is a tech startup, anyway? According to Wikipedia, a startup is a “company or temporary organization designed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model”. The article goes on to describe that “Startup companies can come in all forms, but the phrase “startup company” is often associated with high growth, technology oriented companies. Investors are generally most attracted to those new companies distinguished by their risk/reward profile and scalability”. You can read the whole thing on the link provided, but I think I’ve put the key definitions here. And I think most people would add “under 3 years old” to that criteria.

Now, with all the attention that tech startups have been receiving the past year, a quick look at the the Startuplokal.org Showcase shows a small smattering of music startups, some defunct, some only having a beta signup page, and some not live at all. Although I agree that it the list is less than comprehensive, it shows that at least music startups have largely gone unnoticed by the recent wave of media attention towards startups in general. If you don’t believe me, try an internet search for music startups in Indonesia, and see where that gets you.

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