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Yonder enters RI market, plans to promote local acts
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Yonder Music app (Yonder Music)
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new challenger has appeared in Indonesia’s growing music-streaming market as US-based service Yonder Music will make its official debut on May 23, with a specific focus on helping Indonesian music break out into other markets.
Having recently launched in nearby Malaysia, Yonder Music’s business approach to Indonesia relies on entering a developing market that has not fully adopted the streaming model as the norm for listening to music, thereby hoping to cultivate the tradition further.
The service’s founder and CEO Adam Kidron explained that Yonder wants to become the streaming service for people who generally cannot afford streaming services, making the cost of the service “secondary to the experience”.
Yonder would also prioritize a more offline experience, with automatic downloads happening as a user selects what they like.
This, said Adam, would address the problem of weak internet connections in many parts of the country. To help with the broadband side of things, Yonder has exclusively partnered with telecommunications operator PT XL Axiata.
“What’s interesting about Indonesian listeners is that their experience is very different when compared to listeners from say the USA. People here like to immerse themselves in their favorite songs and are not shy about singing them to anyone in public. In the USA, people would be too shy to do that,” Adam said on Thursday.
Initial subscription rates will start at Rp 35,000 (US$2.57) per month when it launches next week, but for XL users it will be free until June 30. This compares with its competitor Swedish giant Spotify’s basic rate of Rp 45,000 per month.
Addressing the competition from rival foreign streaming services that have entered the local market such as Spotify and French service Deezer, Adam explains that the emphasis on forwarding Indonesian music and underlining the local library would be the way it could differentiate itself from its competitors.
Currently, the service is only available to XL users. XL’s chief brand and customer experience officer Nicanor Santiago said that XL was also assisting in helping develop projects to break Indonesian artists into international markets, especially those that Yonder is already operating in.
Through XL as well, Yonder’s marketing strategy will mainly rely on the 17 local musicians that have signed on to become brand ambassadors, who will hype the service through their social media accounts. Up to 47 local labels and three major international labels have signed on to work with the service.
Nicanor added that Indonesian music was particularly well received by Malaysian listeners, especially the dangdut genre and major pop stars such as Afgan, Raisa and Iwan Fals, who have significant fan bases in the neighboring country.
Aside from Malaysia and Indonesia, the service will also expand to Bangladesh and five other countries this year, with a planned entrance in its home market of the US in 2017. Within these markets, Adam added that they all had their specific musical ambassadors.
