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Merch-Making Market: Where Indonesian music and merch collide
Taking place over the weekend, the expo proudly demonstrates how Indonesian music is, quite fashionably, not just for the ears.
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For the fans: Various types of official merchandise from singer Pamungkas are displayed during the recent Merch-Making Market event at The Brickhall in Fatmawati City Center, South Jakarta. (JP/Felix Martua)
The whole space of The Brickhall at Fatmawati City Center in South Jakarta burst with colors and vibrancy.
At one booth, a bunch of adolescents were gawking at Iqbaal Ramadhan aka BAALE's posters and pins, his name was aglow with neon signs. On another booth, a few young adults were seen fascinated by the merch courtesy of Teenage Death Star, a few of the shirts proudly inked out the rock band's iconic words "Skill Is Dead” in all caps.
And then, close to the food tents, a few adults were checking out a livescreen printing showcase from which they could purchase customizable merch T-shirts featuring bands such as Sukatani and Bedchamber. The crowd grew larger once it was time to break the fast, and the organizer announced that a talk show billed as "Halal, Haram & Bagaimana Hukumnya Bootleg" (loosely translated as “halal, haram and the law on bootleg”) was about to commence.
Merch-Making Market (or MMM) was a music event, but it was not a music festival. The three-day expo was organized as a universal gathering in which both the participating musicians and the attendees could showcase and procure official music merchandise, either by their favorite artists or those whose music might not be on the mainstream airwaves. MMM might sound like a niche concept, but the energy of the crowd proved that merch is never dead.
'Solid interconnectedness'
Yasmin, who was co-manning the official merchandise booth of Pamungkas, "strongly agrees" that, regardless of the passing age and time, merch is a vital part of the music experience itself. Merch is not just a collectable item; instead, it is an expression of identity, the identity of the artist as well as the identity of the merch's owner.
"Merch is how we show our appreciation for the artist's extraordinary body of work. Music is something that we can enjoy from wherever and of one's own accord, but clothing can be the disposition of our identity," she told the Post on March 22.
