Jakarta, June 17, 2025 — Deputy Minister of Creative Economy Irene Umar received the organizing team of the AXEAN Festival during a courtesy meeting in Jakarta. The Ministry of Creative Economy reaffirmed its commitment to strengthening Southeast Asia’s music ecosystem and expanding the export capacity of Indonesian music talents.
“AXEAN Festival is a great example of an independent music festival that has organically opened doors to cross-border music distribution. It’s not just about elevating the musicians, but also the surrounding creative ecosystem—from songwriters and indie labels to local brands, tech enablers, and production houses. This is more than just a music festival—it’s a creative economy instrument that we can scale for broader impact,” said Deputy Minister Irene during the meeting held at Autograph Tower, Jakarta, on Tuesday, June 17, 2025.
The AXEAN Festival is known as a Southeast Asian music export platform, combining performance showcases with music conferences. First launched virtually in 2020 due to the pandemic, the festival continued to be held online in Singapore until 2024, when it was finally hosted physically in Indonesia, featuring 48 musicians from 14 countries and attracting over 3,000 attendees, including 112 international delegates from 27 countries.
This year, the AXEAN Festival 2025 is set to return to Indonesia and will be held on September 13–14, 2025, at Jimbaran Hub, Bali.
The meeting also discussed long-term collaboration opportunities and concrete support for the upcoming festival. Several Indonesian musicians who previously performed at AXEAN Festival have gone on to secure invitations to major international stages such as Fuji Rock (Japan), Primavera Sound (Spain), and the ASEAN-India Music Festival (India).
“What we need isn’t just a cool festival, but one with a mission. When there is curation, distribution networks, and cross-sector collaboration, the industry can grow sustainably. We see AXEAN heading in that direction,” Deputy Minister Irene emphasized.
Satria Ramadhan, Co-Founder of AXEAN Festival and Fujirockers Indonesia, presented plans for the 2025 edition and welcomed the Deputy Minister’s input on strengthening the festival’s thematic narrative and encouraging collaboration with local brands and creative players to amplify both artistic and economic impact.
“We deeply appreciate the insights shared by the Deputy Minister. One key suggestion we’re already considering is adopting a thematic festival concept, which can offer a more immersive and unified experience for attendees. Her push for stronger local creative collaborations also opens up opportunities for the festival to not only feature music, but also highlight the diversity of Indonesian creative products on a global stage,” said Satria.
The Ministry views AXEAN Festival as a strategic platform to enhance the visibility and distribution of Indonesian music, build professional industry capacity, and accelerate the growth of music exports. This aligns with the national vision of establishing the creative economy as the new engine of growth.
Also present during the meeting were Agustini Rahayu, Deputy for Media Creativity; Mohammad Amin, Director of Music at the Ministry; and representatives from Fujirockers Indonesia.
Kiagoos Irvan Faisal
Acting Head of Bureau of Communications
Ministry of Creative Economy / Creative Economy Agency
