Music from the bedroom: Ridwan Yuniardhika (left) and Ganesha Mahendra are two bedroom musicians from Jakarta. They produce their music and distribute them from their rooms using internet connection. They both established Inmyroom Records in 2008 to support other bedroom musicians in the country.courtesy of Inmyroom Records Virtual music labels, known as netlabels, are the next big thing in the local music industry.

While the world is getting connected and people are becoming part of a global online community, the Internet has become the one and only solution to everyone’s problems, including music distribution and promotion.

The Internet has been facilitating the birth of netlabels — online record labels that distribute music through digital audio formats.

Online record labels work like conventional record labels to promote and distribute music, but the big difference is that netlabels use the Internet and offer their products for free.

Under this file sharing system, netlabels also provide copyright protection for artists with Creative Commons Licenses.

Netlabels are believed to have come into existence in the late 1990s when people started to become familiar with the MP3 audio format.

However, it took Indonesia a few years before netlabels arrived here.

The first local netlabel to release an album in a full digital format complete with Creative Commons Licenses was Tsefula/Tsefuelha Records back in 2004.

Ababil Ashari, a musician from indie band Shorthand Phonetics, established the label to help the distribution of his band’s debut album Fanfiction: From the Absurdly Serious to the Absurdly Serious.

After Tsefula/Tsefuelha Records came Yes No Wave Music, another success story in the history of netlabels in Indonesia.

Established in 2007, Yes No Wave has become the most established netlabel in Indonesia.

It so far has released 66 albums from 51 musicians, including albums from Tsefula/Tsefuelha Records, which joined Yes No Wave in 2010.

Yes No Wave Music has turned into an alternative record label in the Internet era. Many top local indie artists released their albums through the website, which so far has been receiving more than 1,000 hints a day.

Given this growing enthusiasm from music fans, can the virtual record label be the future hope for the ailing local music industry?

As we know, the local music industry is on the brink of collapse. The Indonesian Recording Industry Association has recorded a steady drop in the number of record sales, at 20 percent a year since 2005.

Many believe netlabels, with their free file sharing systems, provide a good solution to thwart this downward trend.

Music webzine jakartabeat.net pointed out how an online record label could be an effective and low-cost promotional tool for musicians aiming to increase their record sales.

It cited the case of rising indie star Frau, whose CD sales reached 2,500 copies in January 2011 after her debut album was released on Starlit Carousel last year through Yes No Wave.

However, it may seem too soon to imagine local netlabels turning into a big industry that can produce a million dollars in revenue every year.

Netlabel communities admit the system is mostly run because of people’s passion for music, with no interest whatsoever in profits.

“We just want to help musicians get their music heard,” said Taufiq Ariwibowo, the founder of Mindblasting, a netlabel based in Jember, East Java.

The idea to set up a netlabel came to Arie when he saw his fellow musicians who had made recordings but didn’t know how to distribute them.

“Why don’t I use the Internet to allow their music to reach the public?” he asked himself one day before establishing Mindblasting in mid 2008.

Arie said he doesn’t charge fees or get any benefits from distribution, adding that the rewards come from the music, which is his ultimate passion.

Netlabel management also has to struggle to find strategies to sustain their operations.

“Our major principle is that the music must be free and cannot be commercialized. We sell merchandise like t-shirts to pay for routine expenses like hosting fees,” said Ridwan Yuniardhika of Jakarta-based netlabel Inmyroom Records.

Ridwan agreed with Arie, saying that money is not important in the management of netlabels because the highlight of the industry is giving amateur musicians a chance to publish their music.

Ridwan and his friend Ganesha Mahendra started Inmyroom Records in 2008 as a netlabel for home-recording musicians in the country.

“With the recording quality that these musicians have, it is impossible to get a record deal. That’s why we are here to help,” he says.

But some of these artists, who mostly produce lo-fi recordings, get more than they even wanted in joining netlabels, as it means their music will be heard worldwide.

Look at the case of Bandung-based duo Bottle Smoker, which secured contracts for a number of international gigs through releasing their albums online.

Apart from benefits to musicians, some believe netlabels exist to serve the interests of customers with its music-for-free principle.

The founder of Yes No Wave, Wok The Rock, believes netlabels are new alternatives in the music industry that are more flexible and democratic.

“The wonder of technology should have been dedicated for the interest of the greater public, including the consumer,” he said.

Who needs record labels?: Here are websites of local netlabels that can be used by musicians to promote their albums.However, challenges that are related to copyright issues and come from the musicians themselves have put local netlabels at risk.

There have been no restrictions against webs or blogs that put up music links without citing the netlabels as the source. Meanwhile, every musician can set up his or her own record label, thereby ruling out the existence of netlabels.

Despite this unanswered challenges, many still have high hopes for netlabels as the future of the music industry, someday replacing conventional record labels.

“The music industry currently relies on record labels to help musicians distribute their music to the public. But now all you need is the Internet. This is the future,” said music analyst Wendi Putranto, who also works as an editor for Rolling Stone Indonesia.

Here are some links to local netlabels:

1. http://inmyroom.us/
2. http://hujanrekords.wordpress.com/
3. http://www.stoneagerecords.co.cc/
4. http://mindblasting.wordpress.com/
5. http://yesnowave.com/