Appendix 6 - International Music Council

- Subsidy.
Are there regulations that require that government subsidy should
be given
to, or withheld from specific musical genres, or to a diversity of
musical genres? Are there regulations that require that government subsidy
can only be given to citizens of the particular country, or regulations along
those lines?
Are there regulations that require that all applicants for subsidy
must be considered equally, whether citizens or foreigners? Or are there
variants
on any of the above?
There is no strict regulation as to what kinds of music should be kept.
Every music is given chance
to survive, and anyone may supports any
music he/she wants to do. Because every group of people intends to
promote his/her own music, only the music that has strong support
from audiences and mass media can survive in the contemporary
life.
Now, popular music owns the strongest position
and status among
other kinds of music (traditional, classical, ethnic, folk music). This
makes traditional and ethnic music suffer the domination from the
music with strong sponsors and audiences. According to a local
newspaper
in West Java Pikiran Rakyat, in West Java alone about 132
kinds
of traditional arts die out and only 78 can stay alive in different
levels.
In order to stay alive some musicians in Solo, Yogya, Klaten,
and
in many cities in Central Java and East Java, adjust their music
with
the “instant taste” sacrificing the values of the music. This
situation
occurs because there is no sufficient subsidy given to local
groups
of music (usually foreign groups are supposed to be able to
support
their own budget) to practice and create works in their own
communities.
As a result, only music that has strong supporters can
survive culturally and economically. Because musicians need money to
survive
they should find a strategy to reach the goal.
- Other. Are there similar regulations in areas of activity not mentioned
above?
• What is the situation of copyright law in the countries in this region? Has it been
enacted? Is it enforced?
Copyright law is new for Indonesian society. The government introduced it since
1980s and until at
present many musicians do not really understand what the law
really is. For that
reason people do not know how to value intellectual rights. In
addition, because law enforcement is weak in many aspects of life in Indonesia, even
people who understand
it would break the law for personal benefit. So, the practice of
piracy is commonly
done among people in music industry. According to Jakarta Post
(March 17, 2003 ) Indonesia was said to become the Southeast Asia’s principal digital
piracy center, the second after China. ASIRI (The Sound Recording Industry
Association of Indonesia)
reported that the percentage of pirated CD’s in Indonesia
compared to originals
amounted to 600 percent causing The United States warns
Indonesia. This warning could be followed by economic sanctions. The ASIRI itself
seems not effectively to work but since the
US warned Indonesia on the case the
illegal copying had been drastically reduced. The 105-member organization has since
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