Last Friday, along with a dozen or so other participants, I contributed recommendations to the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy. What were they putting together? A blueprint for Indonesia’s music industry. A serious document. What does that even mean?
The blueprint is essentially a strategic roadmap — an attempt to map the current state of the industry, identify its key problems and opportunities, and propose concrete actions. It’s modelled on similar documents that have been developed in countries with mature music industries, like the UK.
My involvement came through the British Council’s Young Creative Entrepreneur (YCE) programme. I was a finalist in 2006 and a winner in 2013. The BC has been one of the main bridges connecting Indonesian creative industry practitioners with their UK counterparts, and this blueprint project is one of the outcomes of that relationship.
The Process
The blueprint was developed through a series of Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) involving practitioners from across the music industry — musicians, managers, promoters, label executives, journalists, and music tech entrepreneurs. My role was to contribute the perspective of someone who sits at the intersection of music, entrepreneurship, and technology.
The sessions were structured around key themes: how is the industry currently operating, where are the gaps, what does success look like, and what would it take to get there? It sounds straightforward, but the conversations were often difficult — because diagnosing problems in a creative industry requires honesty about things people would rather not say out loud.
What We Found
The six core challenges we identified were:
- Human resources — a shortage of skilled professionals across all parts of the industry chain
- Creative entrepreneurship — most musicians aren’t trained to think commercially
- Financing — limited access to funding for music businesses and touring
- Market expansion — Indonesian music rarely reaches beyond the domestic market
- Innovation — slow adoption of new models, formats, and platforms
- Technology — the infrastructure for music tech businesses is underdeveloped
The UK as a Reference Point
From my time studying the UK music industry, I proposed three models as benchmarks:
- Roundhouse — a creative development hub in London that works with young musicians aged 11–25, giving them pre-career training and mentoring. A direct answer to the human resources and entrepreneurship challenges.
- The Great Escape — a festival and industry convention in Brighton that doubles as a global showcase for emerging artists. A model for addressing financing and market access.
- Tileyard Studios — a co-working campus for music businesses in London, where proximity drives collaboration and cross-pollination. A model for building an innovative ecosystem.
None of these are perfect solutions transplanted wholesale — context matters. But they show that with the right structures and long-term commitment, an industry can organize itself around shared goals. Indonesia has the talent and the market. The blueprint is a starting point for building the infrastructure around them.