After the result, we have the re-interview
Whoa, last update was November 2008 eh? :|
So, two days ago I received a (dreadful) news that the thesis should be collected at February 14. LOL. That day is going to be a Bloody Valentine for sure.
Anyway, remember the online survey before? The results are in. 84 respondents and I'm glad with it :)
If you guys are wondering about the meaning of the title, actually it was my thesis supervisor's idea. He told me that rather than focusing myself in one research methodology be it quantitative research or qualitative research only, it would be 'easier' for me to do 'sandwich methodology'. In-depth interview - online survey - re-in-depth interview.
I have passed the first and second phase and I just finished the third phase :D So from the results that I got from online survey, I did the cross-checking with the people from the music industry and New Media/Web 2.0. industry. In short, since this thesis' topic is considered as new in Indonesia, I still need expert's opinions regarding the matter - whether the public's opinion align closely with experts' forecast or not.
Therefore, within the survey I took three critical point that I asked to the experts. Those are:
- The opinions regarding market's tendency of getting free MP3s although they themselves have regarded 5,000 IDR (US$ 0.5) for a single file of MP3 as a considerable and acceptable amount of price.
- How the music industry responding to some technical problems regarding buying legal MP3 over the Net. One of them is the ability to do micro payment. For artist's perspective, I'm pointing out the extent of Internet usage for artist promotion and such.
- How the music industry responding to the public's forecast that the online music store, nevertheless, will be successful in Indonesia albeit the fact that most respondents thought it will take quit a decade to achieve it.
Tonight I interviewed two people. First one is Budi from Pochi^Monchi Band (Bandung, Indonesia) and here's his answer from musician/artist's perspective.
Since Budi alone is a netizen (person that already being aware of the Internet and having the ability in using it) the band itself already aware the usage and the potentials that the Internet is keeping. Some social networking wesbites are being used to promote themselves and their upcoming concerts and songs.
Budi's band is a perfect example of many idealistic artists (in a good way.) Some artists did not mind if their songs are spreaded all over the Internet for free because their objective is to be well-known. Not for solely making money. They make music because they want to, not as a way of living.
For the fanbase, they prefer to do it offline and some information regarding the activities are being published in some social networking sites.
According to the future of online music store, the hope is there and there's even some optimistic sight that it could be work in even less than 10 years. However, if we should look into current condition, the situation itself is not as promising as hoped. As being explained by Budi according to his own experience when he saw a booth for downloading legal MP3 from indie bands at his town, Bandung, he regarded the cool songs were those from Bandung's indie band and those songs could be obtained easily from one's PC at dorm houses. Another reason was about the price. 5,000 IDR (US$ 0.5) per song and/or 35,000 IDR (US$ 3.5) per album. For him, it would be better off to buy other artist's CD with same price.
Second one was Purwa Mahendra from Evernine Band (Bandung).
He commented the tendency of Indonesians to get 'illegal' MP3s while the fact that some people actually could buy original and expensive fashion goods. For him, it was about the sad fact that we could not showing off our MP3 unless we really want it with our iPod and hey, it's always easy to tweak it.
According to him, the market if music industry is divided into three markets, based on the population. The first market is the 'CD buyers market'. This market, according to him, is the 'exclusive' class. Since the price of CD is considered as expensive in Indonesia (usually ranged from US$ 8 - US$ 20. Here in Indonesia, you could get a decent meal for US$ 8) not many people could buy CDs as much as they could and usually those who buy CD are music collector and rich people.
Second market is the intellectual market. This market consists of netizens. People that already get used with the Internet. People that tend to download songs over the Internet and they know how to get the songs for free. According to him, this is the market that the producers hate most.
The third market is considered as the widest. This market consists of people in rural areas. People that didn't know about the Internet yet. This market consists of people with low income and they tend to buy cassettes more than CD or downloading.
However, the industry needs to sustain itself and many artists are going into mainstream and following the market demand just for the sake of sales and getting money. It's a good thing though unless the fact that the market's preferences and taste is going way too much which left to the assumption that there would be another new genre of music in Indonesia when rich people started to make a band.
The availability of free songs over the Net is not being accepted negatively by Purwa though. There are reasons why he said that free songs not always bad. In fact, he didn't really trust buying legal MP3 over the net. First, it's expensive. Second, the CD is unavailable at the music store. Third, the uncertainty of online payment system and forth, free songs is being downloaded as reference before he bought the whole CD at the music store (to know whether the songs are good or not.)
According to him, the possibility of online music store is there when the public itself already aware with the technology and the buying power is sufficient. Furthermore, he added that the 'community' of free MP3s will always exist. It even evolved from Napster to Kaaza then Limeware then Rapidshare. And it will still evolves.
The original objective of P2P itself was to providing the old/classic/rare songs that already gone from the store shelfs. As the Net evolves, the 'objectives' itself changed.
The problem here is about the mindset. Some Indonesians still think that it's cooler to get something free rather than buying it. If one said that he got the ticket for, say, music concert by buying it at the ticket booth, another one might boasted that he got his ticket for free because he has inside-man and so and so. That kind of mindset needs to be changed. Purwa also added that in order to eliminate the piracy, the economic condition of people should improve. With that, he has this faith that the concept of online music store is in bright future, especially with the emerging technology nowadays.
