BREAKING: Music, Film Now Available at iTunes Store Indonesia

finally. A long last gasp for the current situation at iTunes Indonesia Store. After becoming the only country in Southeast Asia that was left out from obtaining the ability to download music and films, we can confirm that today's iTunes users in Indonesia are able to buy their favorite music tunes and films. The prices range from IDR 5000 to 7000 (50 cents to 70 cents Dollar) for music (and ringtones), while one album may cost IDR 45.000 to IDR 65.000 ($4.7 - $6.8). A full download of The Raid movie in HD quality is set at IDR 149.000 ($15.5).

One that is left out in this party is the Book section, as we are still only seeing the free books offered in iBooks. There are several Indonesian artists and their songs among more than 20 million listed in the iTunes database and it will be a new channel for local artists to promote their creativity. Hopefully it will help creative people in this area in the battle against piracy, where Indonesia's ranking is notoriously among the top ten (if not better) in the world.

On the other hand, the digital music industry has already been directed into two big business models. This first one is full download services, where iTunes is the king, and the other one is online streaming with a monthly subscription -- Spotify and Deezer are among the latter. Deezer has already been available in Indonesia since October with a $5.99 per month scheme for unlimited access in mobile and desktop.

Which scheme will be getting better support (and more usages) from Indonesian customers? We hope the overall winner is Indonesia's creative people in this industry who are able to shift their business model towards the digital era.