[Wooz.in] Mercedes-Benz New M Class Launch

Last Friday (29 June 2012), Mercedes-Benz Indonesia held a launching party for their upcoming SUV, the New M Class. The event was held at EX Plaza Indonesia's parking area, and they had a gigantic tent specially built. Wooz.in helped out with visitor registrations, and guests could immediately share their pictures and status updates at the event just by tapping their guest cards to the assigned stations.

See the pictures at the Wooz.in blog.

[Music Monday] Musiklegal.com And The Fight Against Piracy

Piracy remains a sensitive issue for music labels. Efforts to curb piracy on the national level in Indonesia remains in full steam, with the Ministry of Communication and Informatics blocking 20 illegal mp3 download sites end of May 2012. I tried some of the addresses announced in the article and sure enough, the sites could not be accessed. This action was the result of a lengthy lobbying process by ASIRI (the Recording Industry Association of Indonesia) to the government, while at the same time they also had active discussions with the Phone Credit Theft Task Force appointed by DPR to alleviate and soften the impact made by the government's decision to reset all mobile services dependent on subscription charged by SMS.

The effort to curb the spread of illegal music copies being spread through the internet would not mean a thing if the music industry did not offer something in its place - sure enough, music download stores have been around since 2009 but they have yet to achieve significant user traction and all-important revenue. Illegal downloads are said to be the cause of  low user traction, and even before that ASIRI has been lobbying the government to start blocking illegal download sites. Since the latest administration seems intent on blocking pornography sites, the same technology could be used to block these illegal music sites. So it was just the matter of political will. Now, the government seems to want to listen to the plight of the music labels, despite only taking action online and not taking care of the equally damaging pirate CD stores.

Read the rest of the post on Dailysocial.

[Music Monday] NKOTBSB: A Great Impulse Buy For Digital Music

For weeks and days heading up to the NKOTBSB concert in Jakarta last Friday, longtime fans have been racking up YouTube views of their videos, and radio stations have been playing songs from NKOTB and Backstreet Boys to prime everybody up for enjoying the concert. Needless to say, on June 1 evening Jakarta time, Twitter was awash with people tweeting from the concert and sending whatever pics they can to share with their friends. The show was a success, but what can we learn and exploit from it?

One of the most basic principles of music marketing is to increase awareness and raise sales, a band or musician should do live shows direct in front of audiences. This applies to new or established artists - pushing a song for increased awareness is sometimes not enough through tv, radio and the internet; but a live show (especially if tied with met-and-greet sessions with fans and autograph sessions) would do a lot to reward fans, retain loyalty, and generate awareness and interest for people who have not previously heard of the band/musician. Bands would tour tirelessly around their country - and around the world - as a way to promote themselves and their most latest album. The music labels in charge would also arrange time for the band/musician to meet with the press, to make sure they get more exposure.

Read the rest of the post at Dailysocial.

[Wooz.in] Smirnoff Ice: Nightlife Exchange Project

Mulai bulan Juni sampai bulan Juli 2012, akan ada rangkaian acara Nightlife Exchange Project dari Smirnoff Ice. Program NEP ini akan berkunjung ke beberapa lokasi di seputar Jakarta, mulai dengan membuat acara di 7 Eleven Pejaten pada hari Jumat, 1 Juni 2012 kemarin.

NEP mendatangkan DJ Leo untuk memberi dentuman nada di 7 Eleven Pejaten, diperkuat oleh permainan visual pada DJ box.





Pengunjung juga dapat ikut lomba untuk menjadi DJ, atau bisa juga foto dengan turntable dengan photobooth Wooz.in.











Setiap pengunjung yang mendaftar untuk program Smirnoff NEP ini akan mendapatkan Smirnoff Passport, yang bisa digunakan untuk datang ke acara-acara Smirnoff NEP berikutnya. Kalau mau ikutan acara Nightlife Exchange Project berikutnya, bakalan ada lagi di 7 Eleven Teluk Betung (dekat Grand Indonesia) tanggal 6 Juni 2012, dan di 7 Eleven Senayan tanggal 15 Juni 2012. Nanti kita umumkan lagi lokasi-lokasi berikutnya ya!

[repost dari blog Wooz.in]

[Music Monday] Selling Your Music On Foreign Shores

I've written previously on how we need to move on from the frame of mind that making money from music is confined to selling copies of our music recordings. I've even explained how selling digital files of your music will not work in Indonesia, and that we might even need to just forget about the issue of piracy altogether and think of new ways of reaching your fans with your music. But if you think that selling digital copies of your music internationally is a crucial part of your band's planning, then there are a few ways to do it, and it might make a lot of money for you and your band, too!

Expanding on the post that Widi Asmoro wrote responding to a previous post I wrote, he explained at length on how to prepare your music to be distributed through music aggregator Valleyarm to be sold at iTunes, Spotify, emusic, Amazon Mp3, and the Nokia Music Store. Going through Valleyarm will ensure your music will be distributed internationally, although I think only Nokia Music has official sales channels in Indonesia. But Valleyarm is not the only music aggregator company you can work with; there are many others to choose from.

Read the rest of the post on Dailysocial.

[Music Monday] So You’ve Got A Band. Now What? Make A Website?

Despite all the doom and gloom you might hear in the music industry lately about how it’s more difficult to sell albums, it’s actually a great time to be a band or musician. Whatever the type of your music, you could probably record most or all of your music on your computer, with adequate quality also. And if you don’t have your own computer, most small-to-medium sized music studios already use a computer to do most of the heavy work, and cost less to rent.

From the software point of view, there are many software suites you can use to record, mix, and make a CD master, even free ones, and the Internet offers various paid and free audio libraries to enhance the recording, whether it be a sound effect or a drum loop. Just make sure you can use it for your own music (just make sure it’s totally free or ask permission from the owner). You can even write and share the musical notation of your songs online.

 Read the rest of the post on Dailysocial.

[Music Monday] Wait, You Can Make Money For Music From The Internet?

The [recorded] music industry has been in very dark days lately, especially in Indonesia - I've frequently written about the current situation so I won't revisit it. But the breakdown is this: there is currently no real way the [recorded] music industry can make money from their work. CD sales are diminished, music through mobile is going through a crisis, and there's not really an online music store worth mentioning. But this does not mean that the internet cannot make money for you, the musician or music label.

I'll admittedly be broad about this - I won't say there are a million ways to make money for music directly from the Internet, but there are definitely a lot of ways to make sure the Internet works for you and gets you that much-needed money. Music may be virtually free for most music listeners, but it doesn't mean making the music you want does not cost money. Even downloading Audacity or Gamelan will take some money off your internet bill. Trying to pitch to a music magazine to cover your band may not cost money but bringing along coffee for the journalists goes a long way. And so on. Even if you're a self-proclaimed indie artist that does not want to spend money, eventually you'd need money for food, right?

Read the rest of the post on Dailysocial.

[Music Monday] Taking OpenEMI's Torch And Taking It Further #unresolved

On April 22-24, 2012, a conference aptly named Rethink Music was organized by the Berklee College of Music in Boston. They basically brought together professionals from all over the music industry - from media, from the music labels, from artist management, and even from technology companies like Youtube, Rhapsody and Echo Nest (you can look at the whole speaker roster here). But one of the most interesting things announced and discussed at Rethink Music, in my opinion, is OpenEMI.

The basic concept of OpenEMI is to provide access to startups who want to create music applications and services based on EMI's music library - and if the app is interesting enough, EMI may partner with the startup to develop it further. You can either request for a access to a wide range of songs, or request deeper access to single artists with more audio, video and other content. This developer-friendly system is supported by Echo Nest, the company that also has a wider-range API for music applications that power services like Spotify's Radio feature.

Read the rest of the post at Dailysocial.

[Wooz.in] NewYorkarto: Orang Jawa Ngerap Di New York

Pada tanggal 27-28 April 2012, Jogja Hip Hop Foundation menyelenggarakan pementasan berjudul "NewYorkarto: Orang Jawa Ngerap Di New York" di Taman Ismail Marzuki. Pementasan ini cukup unik karena menggabungkan Hip Hop, gamelan dan orkestra, dengan lagu-lagu rap dalam bahasa Jawa. Kutipan dari website Hiphopdiningrat.com:

NewYorkarto adalah sebuah konser restropektif perjalanan Jogja Hip Hop Foundation (JHF) dari panggung-panggung di tengah kampung di kota asalnya Yogyakarta hingga ke ibu kota kelahiran hip-hop; New York (US). Konser ini akan menghadirkan repertoar lagu-lagu Jogja Hip Hop Foundation (JHF) yang digubah ulang oleh Djaduk Ferianto dan Kua Etnika, serta dikemas dalam sebuah narasi besar yang dirancang oleh seorang dalang wayang kulit, Catur Kuncoro.

Baca selanjutnya di blog Wooz.in.

[Music Monday] Music Labels, Make Something Simple And Put It On The Web!

As covered by DailySocial a few days ago, Touchten launched a music app in collaboration with Aquarius Musikindo, one of the 'major independent' labels (this is the term they use in the industry to note a large music label not affiliated with the Big Four: Sony, Universal Music, Warner Music and EMI). This move deserves applause as it shows that the music labels are willing to try out untested new waters, instead of trying to find a new medium to repeat the old business model of record music and profit by amount of sold copies.

I mean, if we're going to move on from the issue if piracy, we might as well try something new. The increasing trend of concerts being a major income contributor for musicians has emphasized that the recorded music itself, obtained legally or illegally, is a way to sell a music experience, which in some cases in better enjoyed live.

I think if you checked each person who came to a Katy Perry concert, not all would have bought the original CD - but they definitely have paid full price to buy the concert tickets. Why? Because the concert is an irreplaceable experience, with different meaning to different people. Just like the songs themselves.

Read the rest of the post at Dailysocial.

[Wooz.in] Microsoft Campfire

Wooz.in was honored to be appointed as the Audience Experience Partner for last week's Microsoft Campfire event at *Scape Orchard, Singapore, organized by e27. The Wooz.in system was used for online preregistration for those who wanted to participate in the 2-day event, after which the preregistered attendants could just come to the registration desk at the event, confirm their identity, and get their RFID wristband.

Read the rest of the post at the Wooz.in blog.

[Wooz.in] Roro Mendut: Kisah Kasih Tak Sampai

"Roro Mendut: Kisah Kasih Tak Sampai" adalah sebuah pementasan dari Banyumili Productions, dan didukung oleh Djarum Foundation. Pagelaran yang diadakan pada 14 April 2012 kemarin, menampilkan antara lain Happy Salma, Ray Sahetapy dan Tio Pakusadewo. Cerita ini berlatar belakang era Kerajaan Mataram pada tahun 1600-an, di bawah kekuasaan Sultan Agung, dan bercerita soal kisah seorang gadis yang harus memperjuangkan dirinya.

Wooz.in turut hadir untuk mengabadikan acara istimewa ini.

Baca selanjutnya di blog Wooz.in.

[Wooz.in] LA Lights Menthol Sayfestville, 13-14 April 2012

Tempo hari tim Wooz.in sempat meramaikan acara Sayfestville di Gelanggang Renang Senayan, Jakarta. Acara ini diramaikan oleh artis-artis Indonesia seperti Indra Aziz, Stars & Rabbit, Bonita dan The Groove, dan artis-artis internasional seperti Rasmus Faber, Emily McEwan dan Colbie Caillat.



Baca selanjutnya di blog Wooz.in.

Why You Should Care About Ringback Tones #unresolved

For many in Indonesia, the ringback tone is somewhat of a controversial issue; drawing the ire of many, and polarizing related industries into an almost "for-and-against" situation. But not too long ago, ringbacktones were the craze of the moment and the darling of the music industry (and remains the darling of the music industry, depending on who you ask). And not only the music industry - the soaring growth of the ringbacktone market was one of the first indications that Indonesia, as a digital content market, is simply different from other countries and plays by different rules.

I have been writing about how music startups have actually been around in Indonesia for the past 6-7 years or so, and I felt if fitting to dedicate the last post in the series to discuss the ringback tone. Popularized in Korea to replace that boring connecting tone when you wait for the person on the other end to pick up your call, ringback tones (also known as 'color ringback tones', as they added 'color' to your ringback tone), the technology was imported into Indonesia in 2004 where both Indosat and Telkomsel started building their ringback tone services and offered them to the public later that year. The telecommunication companies approached the music labels to obtain attractive content for these services; negotiations took place, and business deals were agreed which were to define the business model for ringback tones across the industry.

 Read the rest of the post at Dailysocial.

Microsoft Campfire Singapore with Wooz.in

This Friday to Saturday, Wooz.in will be in Singapore to support Microsoft Campfire, a 2-day event for developers, designers, UX experts and entrepreneurs. This event is supported by e27, who will also be holding their Echelon 2012 Singapore Satellite event on Day 2. This event will be held on April 13-14, 2012 at *Scape Orchard Link Singapore.



Now it's not too late to register, so if you're interested, you can register here - powered by Wooz.in.

(original blog post here)

Arjuna Wiwaha: Quest For Ultimate Power

Mirwan Suwarso Productions menggelarkan sebuah pertunjukan unik yang menggabungkan wayang, tari dan sinema dengan cerita “Arjuna Wiwaha: Quest For Ultimate Power”. Acara ini digelar hanya satu hari, pada hari Sabtu, 31 Maret 2012 kemarin, dengan tiga waktu pertunjukan. Mengutip dari website Drama Sinema:

Kisah perjuangan Arjuna untuk mencari makna kehidupan, dan bagaimana ia ditugaskan oleh para Dewa untuk mengalahkan raja raksasa Niwatakawaca yang maha sakti.

Peran utama Arjuna diperankan oleh Volland Humonggio, Marcella Zalianty memerankan Batari Supraba, dan musisi muda asal AS Max Morgan memerankan Batara Guru.















Baca selanjutnya di blog Wooz.in.

[Music Monday] Actually, Music Startups In Indonesia Have Been Around For A While (Part 1)

What is a startup, actually? And in the context of DailySocial, what is a tech startup, anyway? According to Wikipedia, a startup is a “company or temporary organization designed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model”. The article goes on to describe that “Startup companies can come in all forms, but the phrase “startup company” is often associated with high growth, technology oriented companies. Investors are generally most attracted to those new companies distinguished by their risk/reward profile and scalability”. You can read the whole thing on the link provided, but I think I’ve put the key definitions here. And I think most people would add “under 3 years old” to that criteria.

Now, with all the attention that tech startups have been receiving the past year, a quick look at the theStartuplokal.org Showcase shows a small smattering of music startups, some defunct, some only having a beta signup page, and some not live at all. Although I agree that it the list is less than comprehensive, it shows that at least music startups have largely gone unnoticed by the recent wave of media attention towards startups in general. If you don’t believe me, try an internet search for music startups in Indonesia, and see where that gets you.

Read the rest of the article at Dailysocial.

Kabaret Oriental: Anak Emas Juragan Batik

Eki Dance Company dari tanggal 20-24 Maret, 2012 menggelarkan acara Kabaret Oriental: Anak Emas Juragan Batik di Gedung Kesenian Jakarta. Mengutip dari website Indonesia Kaya,  mengangkat cerita soal perebutan cinta, harta dan tahta dalam sebuah keluarga pengusaha bisnis batik. Kabaret Oriental ini menggabungkan unsur-unsur drama, tari, musik, lagu dan multimedia kaya dengan unsur budaya oriental,  dan khusus untuk pertunjukan ini, para pemain menggunakan Batik Kudus dalam kostum-kostumnya.







Baca selanjutnya di blog Wooz.in.

[Music Monday] What An Exciting Week For Digital Music!

Who says the music industry is dead? While Napster might of spelled doom at one point in history, the past 10 years has seen an ever-accelerating comeback in the digital music space. While iTunes might still hold a dominant spot over digital music sales, more innovations and startups are breaking into the scene and making their own noise (nudge at Spotify).  I literally couldn't decide what to write about for this week's column, so I've decided to do a short summary of all the interesting news around digital music.

• As previously covered on Dailysocial, there's an indication that iTunes Store might finally be opening up in Indonesia. Although iOS device penetration is lowest here, it also means that there will finally be an easy-to-use music download store in Indonesia. But would it have the relevant music catalog to match?


• Spotify wants to cannibalize piracy. With 10 million active users and 3 milion paying customers, they might just do that, and catch up with iTunes to boot. But there's a monster looming around the corner - the artists who aren't getting paid from streaming services, not to mention big names like Coldplay and Adele withholding their catalog from streaming services, as part of a sales strategy, apparently. But with Spotify already paying out a lot in royalties, time will tell if they have a change of tune.

read the rest of the post on Dailysocial.

Oreo Fun Carnival, Jakarta

Hari ini, Wooz.in hadir di Oreo Fun Carnival, di Parkir Timur Senayan, Jakarta! Acara ini berlangsung dari hari ini, tanggal 17 Maret 2012 sampai Minggu, 18 Maret 2012, dan menyediakan berbagai permainan menarik untuk anak-anak, sekaligus mengajak anak-anak melihat proses bagaimana biskuit Oreo dibuat, lewat permainan-permainan yang seru. Acara ini merupakan bagian dari perayaan 100 tahun Oreo, dan selain sudah diselenggarakan di Bandung seminggu sebelumnya, juga dilakukan serentak di 24 negara lain.

Baca selanjutnya di blog Wooz.in.