Rizki Utami has built a successful career in Indonesia's music and entertainment industry spanning more than two decades. Now working as the Marketing Director at Trinity Optima Production in Jakarta, Rizki spoke with Telum about the evolution of the entertainment industry from a publicist's perspective.

Tell us about your role at Trinity Optima Production.
My main responsibility is to create strategies for our talent, primarily singers, and build their brand. On top of that, I also deliver the revenue growth strategy with key commercial partners.

How the entertainment industry has evolved since you first started your career?
The entertainment industry has changed rapidly since I started 20 years ago from genres and music mediums, to distribution channels and monetisation opportunities. Consumers used to enjoy music on physical cassettes and CDs and on the business front, we relied on traditional marketing methods like radio, TV, and print advertising to promote music releases.

Now, smartphones have led to a surge in music streaming, especially amongst Gen Zs. Social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube are now essential tools to promote music and build an artist's fan base, particularly in Indonesia. These platforms allow record labels like ours to connect with our target audiences directly and create activities that are specifically tailored for each of our talent’s fans. In terms of talent management, Trinity has recently created a dedicated team for each artist to develop and promote them.

What are some highlights and challenges of doing PR in the music industry?
Doing PR in the music industry is about building an artist's persona to support their overall performance. PR efforts or campaigns will continue even after a new album or single is released. We are constantly encouraging our artists to grab the attention of potential brand partners by creating brand extension projects.

In terms of challenges, the wave of emerging artists brings a heightened level of competition, which requires our teams to get creative in order to maintain our artist's relevance from a PR and marketing point of view. For example, the UNGU band (an Indonesian rock band) has been with us for more than 11 years. Without active and continuous awareness campaigns and PR efforts, the band's new and existing fan base could easily slip into a "passive fan" category, so it's vital for us to maintain their loyalty.

What should artists consider when building their brand in the Southeast Asia region?
Expanding our talent's reach globally has always been our priority. However, tapping into a new market can be challenging, so learning English is an absolute must.

When UNGU launched their new album, Trinity hosted tours in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Hong Kong. However back in the day, our promotion strategy in the region would have centred predominantly around partnerships with local brands and engagements with conventional media like radio, TV, and newspapers.

Technology and events also play a significant role in launching talent. Afgan (an Indonesian singer) was featured in the VLive Awards, a regular event from the VLive application. He then performed with KPop artists such as monstaX, NCT, etc., making him the only Indonesian singer to perform live at the event.

Another way we build our artist's brands across the Southeast Asia region is by collaborating with foreign singers who are successful in their respective countries. By combining the fame of each singer with active promotional efforts means our artists can achieve huge exposure in other markets. Afgan produced a collaboration with Hong Kong rapper, Jackson Wang, and South Korean rapper, BI. The song was also produced in English to increase its global reach. By combining great songs, the fame of each artist, and active promotion efforts meant Afgan achieve major exposure in Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei.

A recent survey by The Trade Desk and Kantar found about 50 per cent of Indonesian respondents will engage with social media and music streaming platforms during their workday. How has this impacted local artists' success?
In terms of revenue, the emergence of digital streaming platforms doesn't positively impact an artists’ financial success, because the percentage they can earn from a digital platform is smaller than when music was sold through CDs. However, by leveraging social media and music streaming platforms, artists can build their following and gain recognition, which can positively expand their overall success.

In light of this shift, how has the role of a Publicist or PR professional evolved?
With the growth of social media and music streaming platforms, PR practitioners must now navigate a complex digital landscape to reach audiences and promote their artists' work. It is essential that PR practitioners work to ensure their artists are effectively promoted across the right social media channels and manage their profiles consistently. 

For brands in general, I suggest finding a community or group that is relevant to your business and nurturing a relationship with them. Trinity made a serious commitment to grow our fan base communities for our artists. These communities are essential to Trinity's success as they act as advocates by amplifying our talent's incredible work. We always work to take care of them and treat them as part of our family.