Extortion Becomes The Momok Promoter Of Indonesian Music, One Stop Licensing Is A Still A Waiting Solution

JAKARTA - Illegal levies (extortion) are still a scourge for promoters or music concert organizers in Indonesia. The one-door licensing system that has been voiced so far does not seem to be able to be carried out optimally.

In fact, going to a music concert is one of the trends among young people after the pandemic, especially for those who live in Jakarta and its surroundings.

But the problem is, when talking about international musicians' concerts, the price of concert tickets in Jakarta is more expensive than in Singapore.

The Association of Indonesian Music Promoters (APMI) in an explanation on an official Instagram account, once mentioned the amount of licensing costs, both official and unofficial, so one of the reasons for the high number of music concert tickets in Indonesia.

Dino Hamid as the Chair of APMI even said that extortion and the high cost of licensing were the main issues of promoters in the country.

"If this has become our main issue so far. Therefore, the One Stop Licensing or One Single Submission program is expected to continue to be processed and refined," said Dino Hamid to the media crew on Wednesday, July 16.

In addition, Ravel Junardy as the CEO of Ravel Entertainment, famous for the Hammersonic Festival and loud music concerts, said that unexpected costs always arise when they want to hold performances.

Indeed, there is always an unexpected cost at every concert. But indeed it is a challenge for promoters in Indonesia. I eat it, I say this business is hi-risk (high risk)," said Ravel.

"The issue of licensing can't actually be said that there is extortion. Maybe it can be said that the assessment of crowd by the authority, and the assessment is prone to extortion. But it's just a handful of people," he continued.

In addition to the high ticket price, access to the concert venue is often a problem that must be faced by the audience.

In this case, Dino Hamid hopes that there will be improvements for the venues that usually hold concerts from the world's top musicians.

"Hopefully the supporting infrastructure, access or transportation, as well as public facilities (public facilities) in every venue that can carry out international artists tier 1 can continue to be considered and also perfected," concluded Dino.