Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Entrepreneurs who organize music concerts, aka music promoters, reject the government’s plan to prohibit manufacturers of tobacco products and electronic cigarettes from giving away sponsorship. The plan is that this prohibition will be regulated in implementing regulations derived from Law (UU) No. 17/2023 concerning Health which is currently being discussed by the government.
The promoter said that this ban would impact the continuity of an event. Where, the impact will be different depending on the scale and location, so the event in Jakarta cannot be used as a reference.
Responding to this, the Main Director of PT Java Festival Production, Dewi Gontha, said that the role of sponsors from cigarette companies in the music industry is very large. He said that the role of sponsors in general is to subsidize the organization of an event or subsidize ticket prices.
“In my opinion, cigarette (sponsorship) still has a big role very in our industry, to be honest. “And the function of them and other sponsors in general is to subsidize the organization of an event or subsidize ticket prices,” said Dewi to CNBC Indonesia, quoted on Wednesday (15/11/2023).
“Even if we talk about regional areas, in my personal opinion, support for cigarettes is still very large, meaning not necessarily all products want to sponsor music events or maybe certain music events that they want, maybe some don’t,” he added.
There Must Be a Replacement
According to Dewi, from the start of the music industry, the cigarette industry was one of the industries that always supported the music industry. “So, even if this is the rule issued, can we be given an alternative or not?” he said.
Dewi said that she had spoken with someone who had studied this matter in depth. She said that in other countries, if a regulation is issued, the government is also obliged to find a replacement regulation that can replace it.
“For example, type A companies are not allowed, so type B companies must make a commitment to contribute to the same industry (with) the same amount. So there is a replacement, there are indeed rules like that,” he said.
Effects on the Economy
Meanwhile, Dewi also touched on the music industry which is just starting to move again after the Covid-19 pandemic. According to him, there is still a lot of room for the music industry to develop and it needs a lot of support from all parties, not just the business actors themselves.
“If we talk about, how many people work in this industry? Not bad in our opinion, and if we talk about the economic impact, automatically all workers are affected, and if it is an event that is quite significant in size, even one that is not significant in size, Even the small ones are still affected,” he said.
Apart from having an impact on the music industry, Dewi also conveyed the domino effect if this regulation is passed later. He said the hotel, transportation, food and beverage industries would also be affected by the new regulations.
“It always has an impact, whether big or small. An event with 40 thousand people, an event with a thousand people still needs accommodation, still needs transportation, still needs food and drink. So this is outside of the people who work directly at an event (music),” he said.
Effects on Ticket Prices & Music Industry
Dewi does not deny that sponsors will definitely influence ticket prices. So, with this sponsorship, music event ticket prices can be cheaper.
“The influence of sponsors is not specifically cigarettes, so the influence of any sponsor will affect several things, one of which is ticket prices. What will happen if cigarettes are not involved? sponsor again the ticket price will be 2-4 times more (more expensive)? Not really, it’s just one less industry that no longer supports it. This means that even if we get a replacement or if there is no replacement, he automatically has to be compensated somewhere. “Because an event costs a lot of money, especially if it’s on a large scale,” he explained.
Dewi said that it must be acknowledged that the contribution of cigarette sponsors to the music industry is very large and has an influence on the development of the music industry.
“Can’t other (sponsors from industry) do it? Can’t they come from other sponsors? Yes, you can, you can, just come back, if we usually have their support. And my personal experience is that when we first started the festival, we didn’t have experience, we didn’t know how to make a festival, the first people to support us were cigarette companies, who took the risk,” said Dewi.
Dewi believes that it is not only the events or music festivals that she manages that have received full support from cigarette companies, but many other events or music festivals that have also had similar experiences.
“That means there are a lot of them… We can’t possibly be the only company that started by supporting cigarette companies, there are certainly many others too. That’s my personal opinion,” he said.
Disagree
Dewi emphasized that if she was asked whether she agreed or disagreed with the RPP or new regulations regarding cigarettes, she firmly said she did not agree.
“So, once again, if you ask whether you agree or disagree, I honestly don’t agree that this is prohibited. In my opinion, we still need to look for alternatives,” said Dewi.
Furthermore, Dewi said, there are events that are already large in scale, perhaps the music event promoter no longer needs as many sponsors. However, it is different with smaller scale music events, where the influence of sponsors is still very influential in the smooth running of the event.
“If the scale is really big, maybe you don’t need too many sponsors. Maybe ticket sales can be expensive because the artists are big. But not all events are like that. There are also smaller scale events, whose support (sponsors) are still very influential for them. “We can walk. So, we can’t use the event in Jakarta as a reference,” he concluded.
[Gambas:Video CNBC]
Next Article
Excise deposits starting to drag, are cigarettes expensive?
(dce)