Government and the Industry in Disagreement Over Premium Content Regulation

Several content and service providers are in disagreement with the government regarding the revision of premium content regulation that the government is working on through the Ministry of Communications and Informatics and the Indonesia Telecommunications Regulatory Agency.

Continue reading Government and the Industry in Disagreement Over Premium Content Regulation

[Music Monday] Sebenarnya, Startup Musik Sudah Lama Ada di Indonesia (Part 2)

Minggu kemarin, saya menulis pengenalan dasar tentang startup tanpa tanda jasa, penyedia konten. Minggu ini saya akan menulis tentang bagaimana mereka muncul dan bagaimana mereka menghasilkan uang dari musik digital. Tentu saja, setiap industri yang menghasilkan banyak uang tidak terlepas dari kontroversi, jadi saya juga akan membahas hal tersebut. Tetapi secara keseluruhan, pasar nada dering di Indonesia sebenarnya hadir dari apa yang kini kita kenal dengan nama crowdsourcing – dulu cukup mudah untuk membuat nada dering monophonic, nada dering ini bisa dibuat menggunakan PC atau bahkan dengan ponsel Anda, orang dengan mudah membuat dan membagikan karya mereka melalui forum daring. Dan akhirnya seseorang memiliki ide untuk menjual nada dering tersebut pada orang lain. Akhirnya, mereka mulai merekrut pegawai untuk membuat berbagai nada dering tersebut.

Di awal tahun 2000-an, berbagai perusahaan yang ingin mengkapitalisasi bisnis nada dering harus menggunakan nomor premium 0809 lewat nomor telepon darat – nomor awal telepon yang sama yang digunakan untuk panggilan premium telepon sex – dengan proses ini pengguna yang ingin memilih nada dering harus melewati sistem Interactive Voice Response, nantinya nada dering akan dikirimkan secara langsung ke ponsel. Para pemain awal industri ini antara lain PT Katagiprima (kini bernama Iguana Technology), dan Klub Mobile. Klub Mobile perlu diberi catatan karena mereka akhirnya menutup layanannya setelah dituntut oleh penerbit lagu pada tahun 2003, tuntutan para penerbit lagu dikarenakan Klub Mobile menjual karya intelektual – lagu – tanpa izin dan tanpa royalti.

Continue reading [Music Monday] Sebenarnya, Startup Musik Sudah Lama Ada di Indonesia (Part 2)

[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.

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