I run Konserama. Before committing to the idea, I went to Cardiff, Wales to validate it at Festival Congress. As expected, I met many festival organizers from Europe — especially from the UK. While I was there, I pitched Konserama not as a concept but as a business: specifically, that I could bring Indonesian visitors to their festivals. I explained the profile of Indonesian travelers to the UK and, importantly, their spending power. For those who do not know, Indonesians were the second-highest spenders in the UK in 2012, just below oil-rich Kuwaitis. That got people’s attention immediately.
“But it cannot happen on its own,” I continued. “You need to promote your festival to Indonesians. Most European festivals — good or not — are barely known there. If you want Indonesian visitors, you have to be relevant to them first.” The conversation evolved from there into a broader discussion about what it actually takes to build cross-cultural music audiences.
The Real Starting Point
Coming back from that trip, I kept returning to one core idea: before we can talk about exporting Indonesian music or importing international audiences, we need to develop the artists themselves. Indonesia’s music industry development has to start with musician development — building the capacity of the creators and performers at the foundation of the whole ecosystem.
In a presentation I gave on the topic, I outlined three priorities for Indonesia’s music industry:
1. Develop the music industry starting from musician capacity-building — including songwriters and performers.
2. Grow Indonesian music consumption through streaming services.
3. Create family-friendly festivals to cultivate a new generation of young music fans from an early age.
The first point is what I want to focus on here.
What Musician Development Actually Means
The goal is to build a sustainable system that develops music creators and performers who: have the skills and abilities needed to compete in the modern music industry; have a global perspective; are able to find and express a distinctly “Indonesian” character so we can compete internationally on our own terms; and have access to the networks, knowledge, and resources that currently exist mostly outside Indonesia.
This is not about creating copycat Western artists. It is about helping Indonesian musicians become the best version of themselves — with the tools, mindset, and connections to build careers that last. The Roundhouse model in the UK, which combines creative workspace, education, and community, is one example worth learning from.
Artist development is not glamorous. It does not generate headlines the way a viral hit or a big festival does. But it is the foundation everything else is built on. Get this right, and the rest of the industry has a chance to follow.