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SkyArk Music is an online marketplace that connects live-musicians with clients looking for performers for their events

SkyArk Music CEO Astrio Feligent believes that there is a problem with the Indonesian music scene.

“Potential musicians with peculiar musicalities find it very difficult to gain access to the market; be it for awareness, let alone monetising themselves through album sales or live gigs. Things get worse if those musicians don’t have either tons of money or the look of Adam Levine (or Beyonce),” he writes in an e-mail to e27.

He also adds that while there are already companies that focus on legal distribution of singles and albums through streaming or purchases, there is still none that focusses on building a dedicated platform for musicians to showcase themselves and secure live gig bookings to potential customers.

This is where SkyArk Music comes in: the startup is an online marketplace of live-musicians that allows potential clients to check their skills and book their service at the same time.

SkyArk Music claims to have secured hundreds of indie musicians, ranging from bands to soloists of all genres. It even includes several well-known Indonesian musicians such as Barry Likumahuwa, which we confirm when browsing through its list of musicians.

“By doing this, we’re bridging the gap that most end users are facing; the absence of knowledge and access to the musicians that truly suit their moments best. Currently most end users outsource the choice of musicians to event organisers, which is very likely not going to perfectly suit their preference,” explains Feligent.

The Jakarta-based startup has only been launched in late May, and is currently bootstrapping their business.

It was founded by Feligent, Kenny Rahmat (COO & CFO), and Richard Walelangi (CMO). It also has two other employees, with one of them being a Music Director.

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How does the system work?

“We don’t have any sort of contract; musicians can freely sign up and utilise our platform as a channeling medium to market themselves, gain awareness, and eventually monetising themselves to the general public,” Feligent explains.

Musicians also have the freedom to set up their own non-negotiable price in the platform, and SkyArk Music will take 12.5 per cent cut of every transaction that occurs on their platform.

SkyArk Music also implement an escrow system where all fees are being paid upfront to the platform and will only be distributed to musicians once the shows have commenced.

To implement this payment system, the startup teams up with Qatar National Bank (QNB Indonesia) as partner.

For 2016, SkyArk wants to focus on user and customer acquisition by expanding its list of musicians, conducting relevant brand activation activities, and eventually securing more transactions.

In order to be able to do that, the startup opens itself up to the possibility of fundraising for its seed round.

“Assuming we have adequate budget, there are several things that we’d like to do; grabbing KOL for awareness, Adwords, building networks of contents for organic SEO, and of course both BTL and ATL activation through a strong campaign,” Feligent says.

“In the absence of such goldmine, we’re doing it conventionally; approaching relevant portfolios manually,” he adds.

At the end of the day, Feligent stresses that the startup’s ambition is to ensure that good music should be made accessible and enjoyable to the general public.

“We used to have Tielman Brothers that inspires The Beatles, we have Gugun Blues Shelters that have gone on multiple international tours, and recently we have Joey Alexander who played at the Grammy. I think the potential of our music industry is underrated and a change needs to take place immediately,” he closes.

The post Meet the Indonesian startup which aims to give indie musicians a voice appeared first on e27.

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