Music Performer Visa Which Is Expected To Be Able To Bring Many International Musicians

The Directorate General (Ditjen) of Immigration of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights (Kemenkumham) hopes that Indonesia can become a calculated international event destination, after issuing the latest visa, Music Performer Visa.

Music Performer Visa is a breakthrough from the Directorate General of Immigration to facilitate licensing of foreign musicians to perform concerts in Indonesia.

The hope is that with this latest visa, Indonesia can compete with neighboring countries, such as Singapore, to attract many foreign artists.

This visa is specifically for musicians and their crew who want to carry out music performances in Indonesia. This policy is expected to support Indonesia to become a designated country for international events that is taken into account," said Director General of Immigration, Silmy Karim, quoting Antara.

In his official statement, Silmy also explained that Ed Sheeran, who had just held a concert at the Jakarta International Stadium (JIS) on Saturday (2/3/2024), also came to Indonesia with the Music Performer Visa.

The Directorate General of Immigration launched the Music Performer Visa on September 14, 2023. But Ed Sheeran is not the first foreign singer to use this type of visa to hold a concert in Indonesia.

Last year, this visa was used by several international artists, starting from Coldplay which kicked Jakarta for the first time in November 2023, then followed by the K-Pop Twice group in December 2023, and the Jonas Brothers in February 2024.

Silmy explained that the requirement to apply for a Visa Music Performer was easier than before, thus facilitating the arrival process of this 'Photograph' singer to Indonesia.

To get the C7A index electronic visa, international artists no longer need to attach a work permit, a Police Record Certificate (SKCK) to a certificate of a minimum work experience of five years.

"The simplification of requirements for foreign artists is carried out because they are only active in a short time in Indonesia and are not local musicians," continued Silmy.

He also explained that this latest visa is included in the single entry category or once entered and is valid for 60 days. Visa's Music Performer can be submitted through the official siteevia.imigration.go.id with sponsors such as concert organizers, music promoters, or other related parties.

For Ed Sheeran, who held the concert for the second time in Jakarta, the Directorate General of Immigration issued a total of 85 visas with details of 11 Music Performers Visa (including for Callum Scott and the music players) and 74 Music Performers' Crew Visa (C7B index).

The concert of foreign musicians is considered as one of the events that can contribute positively to the tourism sector and the creative economy. Ed Sheeran's concert titled + - = Laughs x Tour 2024, for example, which is able to suck up 50 thousand viewers is believed to be able to have an economic impact of more than Rp. 100 billion according to the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy (Menparekraf) Sandiaga Uno.

Previously, Sandiaga also said that international concerts in Indonesia were targeted to contribute up to IDR 162 trillion in economic contribution, including the Coldplay concert which was held in November 2023.

"Of the total 3,000 events, including international concerts in 2023, the economic achievement target is around 162 trillion, exceeding 10 billion US dollars," Sandiaga said in May last year.

However, attracting international musicians to stop by to Indonesia is not easy. Despite having a large market share, PK Entertainment said there were two challenges for promoters to invite foreign artists to be able to hold concerts for a long time like in other countries, for example Singapore.

PK Entertainment Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer, Harry Sudarma, said there were two barriers. First, in terms of business, both artists and promoters must certainly produce.

Both of them must both be able to get the benefits they want. Especially for foreign artists who are phenomenal," said Harry.

The second challenge is related to the difficulty of bureaucracy and infrastructure that is not yet qualified. In terms of licensing, Harry assessed that many regulations still need to be improved to be more comfortable to comply with. In addition, access to using a venue is also expected to be easier.

It is known, Indonesia 'loss' from neighboring Singapore, which managed to bring in singer from the United States Taylor Swift to hold a concert for six days, namely March 2-4 and continued March 7-9, 2024. Singapore became the city with the most concerts in Asia Pacific and the only one in Southeast Asia.

This further strengthens Singapore as an international entertainment and art center in Asia Pacific.

Singapore's success in bringing Taylor Swift to concerts for six days is touted for the interference of their government. Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin accused Singapore of making an exclusive deal so that the dreamwildest singer only appeared in Singapore and not in other Southeast Asian countries.

Thailand's PM also accused the Singaporean government of offering 2 million US dollars or equivalent to Rp31 billion for concert exclusivity in his country.

Singapore does admit to providing a grant to help persuade the Taylow Swift team to only make them the only organizer of The Eras Tour in Southeast Asia. However, the value of the subsidy funds is kept secret.

Singapore's seriousness in holding Taylor Swift's concert was seen by making various visits with the singer's theme. At Marina Bay totaling, one of Singapore's iconic buildings, fans can see the performances of seven beautiful installations lifted from Taylor's albums, and opened to the public from February 28 to March 13.

In addition, Taylor's welcoming to Singapore is also even more lively with the fountain performance which was inspired by the concert The Eras Tour.

Channel News Asia reported that aviation and accommodation demand in Singapore rose 30 percent as a result of Taylor Swift's concert. Singapore is also said to have recorded gross revenue of more than one billion US dollars or Rp. 15.8 trillion from this concert.

Previously, the British band Coldplay also successfully held a six-day concert in the Lion Country.