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New On MoonJune

The record label you almost heard of

By Arlo HenningsPublished about a year ago Updated 11 days ago 6 min read
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New On MoonJune
Photo by Mick Haupt on Unsplash

The first time Arlo Hennings met Leonardo Pavkovic was at a music business conference in Bali.

The event was called IMEX 2012 aka Indonesian Music Expo (now defunct) in Bali, Nusa Dua, Indonesia.

At the conference, Pavkovic learned that Hennings was the former Director of Universal Music Publishing, Los Angeles.

After the event, Pavkovic sent Hennings an email and offered to meet him in Jakarta.

From their first meeting, Hennings has not stopped wondering who is the real Leonardo Pavkovic?

The man he met and did business with for the next two years didn’t match the articles.

Journalists proclaimed Pavkovic a “music visionary” for his curatorial music taste in the unusual.

The beyond, non-categorizable genres of music he distributed on his MoonJune label.

A record company he claimed, “made no money” and some of the artists “paid him.”

Leonardo Pavkovic was raised by an Italian stepfather. He grew up in Bosnia and went to college in Italy and North Africa. According to his bio, he majored in Literature in college.

Next, he landed in Brazil and married a Chinese woman. The couple immigrated to New York in the 90s, where he landed a job at a graphics shop in New York City.

He befriended a few musicians at his graphics job and he met members of the old progressive rock band Soft Machine as well as the jazz guitar impresario Allan Holdsworth. Pavkovic became Holdsworth’s manager and agent.

Hennings sat at the restaurant table of an expensive Jakarta hotel and Pavkovic gave him the sales pitch.

Leonardo (left) Hennings (right)

Pavkovic’s latest vision was “MoonJune Asia.”

He offered no detail. Only it would be great! And, there was room for Hennings at the top like all his special pals who go along.

The overweight man talked with a hard-to-understand Slavic accent.

Pavkovic gave Hennings an overview of his record label and booking business.

After Pavkovic told Hennings about his MoonJune roster, none he had heard of before. But, deeper research revealed they were cool but obscure.

The music was cool but not commercial. Being small and not commercial is not bad.

How he financially survived was the question.

Pavkovic changed the subject and shared he was to undergo knee and eye surgery.

He explained the medical bill would be paid by State Medicaid insurance. Hennings knew only people with poverty-level incomes are eligible for State insurance.

Hennings took a long sip of coffee.

How does a person travel around the world on income from booking a small roster of obscure oldie acts and a handful of CDs?

He and his Chinese wife were living in a multi-million dollar condo at the time in Manhattan.

Never mind, Hennings thought. He added more sugar to his coffee. If it wasn’t weird it wouldn’t be rock 'n' roll. And Pavkovic was a music “visionary.”

Hennings gathered MoonJune operated partially on gaslight.

Pavkovic admitted his experience in the music business was limited. And one reason he wanted Hennings's help. The area of music publishing was the primary reason.

Google search produced articles that presented Pavkovic on a pedal stool. “Lifelong hipster” and “Visionary” were two of many accolades.

They concluded their breakfast and his sales pitch ended. Would Hennings like to be his “associate” under the “auspices” of MoonJune engaged in what he called a “pal deal?”

Pavkovic continued, “I don’t sign contracts. MoonJune is one big family. I only work with friends.”

What that meant is his business is less than a handshake. It was air. As long as there’s nothing in writing, he can’t be held accountable for anything.

After being in the music business for 50 years how could Hennings say no?

Hennings heard words like “pal deal” following vague details before. “Don’t worry trust me,” and promises of the extraordinary.

Experience told Hennings to run and don’t look back. But, who was the moon-man with the 15 Indonesian CD releases? Which didn’t make money but they were interesting.

They struck a deal, for 50% of his airfare and local hotel expenses. (Only three trips were reimbursed.)

Pavkovic wanted Hennings to traverse Jakarta, which is one of the largest and most difficult cities in the world to navigate.

The MoonJune mission was to forge new relationships and spread goodwill on MoonJune’s behalf.

In addition, get his Indonesian roster to sign an American music publishing contract.

Money from the publishing royalties split 60/40 (if there were any monies).

Whatever else was in this “pal deal,” Hennings didn’t know.

Even though Hennings was aware another music industry executive had left MoonJune, citing his disbelief in Indonesia, Hennings was looking for something to do.

So he went along with the crazy scheme.

For two years, armed with his MoonJune business card, Hennings crawled through the worst traffic in the world.

MoonJune Business card

email from Leonardo

Hennings got the Indonesian artists to sign their publishing contract but Leonardo threw the contracts away without explanation. The artists, too naïve to understand, asked no questions or they didn’t care.

The artists did not receive sales reports or royalties and in some cases they paid him. One complained, “Why am I paying for my CDs?”

Artists starving for any recognition felt it was “better than nothing.”

Based in New York City, Pavkovic’s record label office was the size of a shoebox.

How to juggle a catalog of over 60 CDs and be a booking agent simultaneously was a good trick.

Launched in 2001 MoonJune Records has no legal business registration in New York where it operates.

MoonJune Booking Agency is the main source of revenue for Pavkovic’s operation.

However, according to the Association of Talent Agencies in New York, MoonJune or Pavkovic has no license to operate an agency.

Years later many key Indonesian shakers and artists died.

Opening up a new music market was an ambitious idea but it didn’t work out.

Five out of the seven Indonesians on MooJune were wealthy so they suffered no loss. Selling CDs was beside the point if some international publicity could be realized to help raise their profile.

In some cases, Pavkovic did accomplish that. But it was not enough to keep the moon in the sky.

MoonJune stopped releasing new Indonesian music.

Hennings is grateful to learn about many great artists. It was one of many tales on the rock n’ roll highway.

It took 10 years, but it's better than nothing acknowledgment.

About Hennings

Hennings was interviewed by many Indonesian media outlets. Information about his book Bali Advertiser, and the music industry Tirto.

His Indonesian Jazz label, Indojazzia landed a young pianist from Bali, Eric Sondhy, on worldwide music charts.

He was also the curator for the music podcast show 107.3 2Ser Australia.

Featuring the latest in cutting-edge music from the Indonesian archipelago. Hennings’ was the first foreigner to participate in the Indonesian Music Awards (AMI).

He managed an Indonesian band on the MoonJune label, I Know You Well Miss Clara.

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About the Creator

Arlo Hennings

Author 2 non-fiction books, music publisher, expat, father, cultural ambassador, PhD, MFA (Creative Writing), B.A.

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