Yonder Closes Service, Prepares Other Options for Returning to Indonesia

Music streaming app yonder announced the termination of business in Indonesia last week (23/3) indefinitely, following the failure to extend the agreement with XL Axiata and Universal Music. This was stated directly by the VP and Country Manager of Yonder Southeast Asia, Jake Denney.

"Unfortunately, we were not able to get a contract extension with XL and Universal Musik for (services in) the Indonesian market. Without these two main keys, it is impossible for us to put capital into the market," said Denney as quoted from coil.

He admitted that the negotiation period between the company and the two companies had been going on for too long and exceeded the stipulated deadline. Despite closing the service within an unspecified deadline, his party promised to return to Indonesia soon after finding other options for the next partnership.

"I have spent the last two years trying to develop the right solution for Indonesia. I will not give up."

This decision has an impact on Yonder's cooperation with Axiata in a number of countries where Yonder operates, including Malaysia (Celcom), Bangladesh (Robi), Sri Lanka (Dialog) and Nepal (Ncell).

Yonder Developments in Indonesia

Yonder has been present in Indonesia since May 2016 thanks to an exclusive partnership with XL Axiata. Users can enjoy free streaming on the XL network as a form of added value to customers.

Thanks to this partnership, the number of Yonder users in Indonesia has increased to 1,8 million people as of February 2018 spread across Jakarta, Bandung, Semarang, Surabaya, Medan and Bali.

One of the marketing activities that Yonder regularly holds is sharing concert tickets for foreign artists, to holding offline activities such as tours with local artists in several cities in Indonesia. Another approach is to make Yonder a platform for original music content from local artists exclusively available on Yonder.

Since the official announcement, the Yonder application is no longer accessible on Google Play and the App Store.