I have never done this before (copy paste someone else's blog post) but I feel it is my duty and responsibility to share this excellent post with you. Important reading if you care for the local music industry.
Read the original posting here.
This post is going to make me a lot of friends. I am going to go out on a limb here, shoot my mouth off and probably end up digging a hole for myself.
The Malay newspapers have been highlighting this matter of the local Malay stations playing more music from Indonesia and not supporting local music. This newspaper interviews a bunch ofwashed-upveteran producers and writers. Of course, they all collectively blame the radio stations for the state of the local music scene and why they cannot make a living because the radio stations support Indonesian music.
And today, I read that the government is actually conducting an investigation! As if there is nothing else more important to do in government, the government is looking into this complaint and will probably have a quota on how many produced-in-Malaysia songs they have to play.
While you may think this is ironic and it goes against my personal interest for me to comment on this, I think this is the most ridiculous and most offensive thing anyone can do to creative works and the free market. Of course, such a ruling would benefit me tremendously since I am a songwriter and I stand to make more money if the local stations are forced to play locally produced music. Hence the irony.
All the arguments that were brought up by these veteran writers have no merit.
A radio station is a business. They cater to the demands of the market. (Of course, some stations take this way too personally and actually think they know what the market wants and then become an imposition.)
The reason why radio stations are not playing as much local music is because no one wants to hear it. And not many people want to hear it because the music, simply put, SUCKS. (That's the technical marketing term.)
I am not kissing ass with the radio stations. It's not a conspiracy. The radio stations are not out to kill the local industry. If anything, the musicians and songwriters are doing it to themselves by trying to sound like Indonesians today or Indonesians back in 70s. If I were a radio station, I'd too be embarrassed to play some of the local stuff I hear. Even if I were embarrassed, but if listeners wanted it, so be it. Play it.
As a producer and songwriter, I welcome the challenge. It bugs me whenever I hear an Indonesian song on the radio. But if it is good, it is good and it deserves its place on radio. I take it as a personal challenge and I want to do better to compete. Understand that I am not anti-Indonesian. I am in awe of their progress but I do not see them as one to emulate (since they are emulating the British.)
The bottom line here is the radio stations as a business, owe the music industry nothing. They owe it to their customers and listeners.
And then there was this new argument today suggesting that there should be a law to force local stations to play local artists so that we can have international acts. He cited Australia with Savage Garden and Kylie Minogue. I don't see the logic here. How, by force-playing local acts, will the act go international. (Incidentally, Kylie made it via the U.K. and most Australians probably hate Savage Garden's music.)
So let's say the government manages to have a quota and radio stations are forced to play local music (but there isn't really enough good local stuff so they either repeat the good ones or start playing crap). First, all the stations will sound like X-Fresh. You can see where that is going.
But this is what is going to happen: Radio will lose their listeners. Listeners will go to music social networks like imeem.com or last.fm and get their music. Radio will become less relevant. It will become what the railway station is to transportation. And then we would get closer to completing our mission as a nation that takes one step forward but two steps back.
And when listeners go online for their new music discovery, NO ONE IN MALAYSIA GETS PAID.
As for the music industry, it's Proton all over again. Constantly expecting handouts and never wanting to look at the real cause of the problem.
Burn that analog tape machine and take a good look in the mirror.
Phew! Now I feel better.
Read the original posting here.
17 comments:
*nodding*
Finally, sum1 who has the same sentiments as me!
I find that any1 who actually tinks Indo music on radio is the main prob is just having it easy by finger-pointing, while chucking the real reason aside, put it in a treasure box n bury it forever.
Vernon, u shld go to amnet n read the comments of Msians regarding this issue. It's sad, I tell you. It's time we think out of the box n nt get comfy with the mindset. Like wat audi said, take this as a challenge.
I find that this issue is juz the same with "cetak rompak". Instead on focusing on it, find a way to deal with it. Take it as an opportunity, n nt a threat.
Only den will the local industry boom.
What the Malaysian songwriters and lyricists should do is to understand why the Indonesian songs are more accepted here, rather than our own songs. Why their movies are more accepted that ours.
Not to say that they should follow suit or somewhat copycat here and there, but the bottom line is - variety, creativity and not monotonous.
Listen to all the local rock songs - 95% of them have the same drum beat throughout. Imagine that when you listen to a song, you can somewhat guess who the songwriter is because in a way, you've listened to a similar melody previously.
On the other hand, I see this as seasonal stuff. Remember when we used to listen to so many rock (slow rock) songs, then nasyid songs, then dangdut songs, then Hindi songs, then underground, then hip-hop/rap, etc. How long this season will be this time? Tepuk dada tanya selera.
Way to go Vern! This PhD (Dr M's PhD version of course) issue is so infuriatingly ridiculous. So much for all the "Cemerlang, Gemilang, Terbilang" spiel...going global...first-class mentality...when the reality is, "protect us - it's our right!". Sigh, I guess words like "merit" and "deserving" just don't exist in the dict...
P/S: Lest others think I'm a disgruntled non-Bumi,I'm actually a Melayu (who wears tudung plak tu!)
hey! i didn't say "washed-up" veteran producers!!!??!!
oh boy. i am going to feel what it's like to have someone stick an umbrella up my ass and then open it! :O
Damn the torpedoes. Bring it on!
Go audi!
I've been saying/feeling the same way on not just the music industry, but everything else! (esp. science..well, that's my field).
We are wont to blame others for being better; yet we do not want to take the blame ourselves and take it as a challenge for us to improve whatever we have.
We are always in the mindset of: *ooohhh, it's hard, it's because someone else is taking things away from us! get the government to ban them!*
bleurgh.
work harder malaysians! WE ARE GREAT, and able to produce out-of-this-world things if we only put out hearts and soul into it.
Please take anuar zain's latest effort/Ning's selagi ada *her album after her supposed downfall*/ Tun M's effort in bringing us out from the '98 economic crisis as examples. sekian terima kasih.
;)
i agree with u mr manager..Malaysians should take a challenge and work hard..some of the artist don't have any new album/songs but complaint too much..For example anuar zain@Lelaki ini still have a space in everyone's heart because lagunya sgt sedapppppp!!! :)
oh my god! is this you??like really you??? i cant believe it! for the FIRST time in history we have the SAME opinion!!selalu asyik bertengkar sahaja.
but the question is, look at yourself first, vern , your artist, how many people know lagu pinta by nikki?although it is good.how many people know lagu erti pertemuan by ning?although it is good too.
if im a radio station's producer, i wont be ashamed to play all ning's song in erti pertemuan, nikki for caramu ,and pinta.
yanie?sling terpesona, for me SUCKS.
and meminjam kata kata anuar zain, tak kisahlah yg buat lagu or punya lagu org putih ke, indon ke, india, ke cina ke, terima sesebuah lagu tanpa prejudis.after all were living in a place called WORLD!.sampai bila lah nak terbukak minda wahai kerajaan oi???
mcm jac lawan dgn vina morales, dah sah sah vina morales bagus, dia lah menang.terima tanpa prejudis.
im not saying artis malaysia tak bagus, cube letak nikki dgn britney spears dlm pertandingan, sure nikki menang.
cube letak nikki dgn mariah carey, siapa menang?perhaps,perhaps,perhaps.
salaam perantauan.malaywood
this is a global world. everyone wanted to go global but afraid of competition. how are we suppose to go global? we can't even compete with our neighbours...let alone the world! baru station radio pasang lagu indo semua dah melenting...macam mana muzik kita nak maju? i look at music just like any other trading product. in free trade, there is no mercy, no quota, nothing. the best product will win. consumer/listener will choose what they want to listen/see. if you want your music to be liked, then produce a good one. if we're afraid of competition, then jadilah jaguh kampung. sampai bila pun x kemana....
After being a constant reader of your very entertaining blog Mr. Manager, I finally found the urge to comment on this well-debated topic.
In fact I watched a programme on TV about the same topic debated by record producer Roslan Abdul Aziz, the Host-Rosyam Nor and another artist.
I prefer Indonesian songs than to our Malaysian songs. Not being unpatriotic, but you CAN'T force urself to listen to songs which u dont like right? Not all songs are bad however, there are only a minority of them which are of same quality with the indonesians. I wonder why? Even my Chinese colleagues and boss alike is crazy about Indonesian songs. Im a malay, dont get me wrong. I guess I agree, most Malaysian songs do sucks. And yes, radio stations do cater to the demands of the market.
But, we just should stop pointing fingers and just start seeing the whole big picture and start producing songs as good as our neighbouring country. Its a neverending challenge! Its time we change our mentality & become more independant. I dont understand whats all the fuss about radio stations not giving enough airplay for our songs, and wanting to enforce rules and regulations, and commencing an investigation. I dont know how the hell are we going to survive in the globalisation era with the same mentality. We have all the advanced technology but still a third world mentality. We have a lot more of learning to do even after 50 years of independance.
Come on. Ask why,what, when and how, then strive to be better. Nothing's impossible.
hmm..i think that everybody will going to hantam me cause my opinion is totally different from the others.
i do actually agree with some of the artistes who have been complaining about this issue.
currently,i live in indonesia.and as far as i'm concern,radio stations didn't play malay songs as frequent as we played their songs.they only let their music rules the air.
yes,dato' siti nurhaliza is famous here,but i can say that it's really hard to hear her song in any of the indonesian radio station.maybe one or twice in a week.and what about other malaysian singers?NONE okay.
some oldies radio stations here did play old search,iklim,ella,nora,slam songs once in a while.but the modern radio stations for example like era or hot.fm in malaysia,didn't bother to play any of our songs.so why we are so freaking exicted to play their songs?
i agree that indonesia did produced plenty of really good songs,but that couldn't be the reason for us to keep on playing their songs 24/7.admiring is good.and challenge will make you try harder and be better.but why indonesia can still produce good music without any challenge from other countries songs and all?
sit back and think!
it's really hard to hear our songs here.and when i was back in malaysia for a holiday,i was expecting to feed my ears with our songs but it turned out to be their songs,again!!
this phenomenon is quite similar with our movie industry which keep on bringing indonesia movies to malaysia eventhough some of the movies were UGLY.yes,ugly.i don't think that there were a lot of difference between DIVA and LOVE IS CINTA in the aspect of quality and all but still our film critics couldn't have the guts to label that indonesia film as 0 star,compared to indonesian reporters and film critics whom labelled our film as 0 star.
tak boleh nampak lagi ke?
i believe that both countries have produced some really good music and good film.indonesia can stands by itself,so when we're going to follow them?
if we keep on playing and hearing our songs over and over again,the good songs will become very good songs and the not so good songs will turn out to be okay songs.
we cannot blame each other in this issue and we have to work together to fix it.if the government did make a rule to minimize the number of indonesia songs played by the radio stations,and the song writers,artistes,producers and all did try harder to produce better songs,it's now up to us as the listeners to buy the albums not downloading them from the net and support the local music industry.
if we as malaysians didn't bother to support our own music industry,who will?
stand and work together,we can make a difference!
i'm 'truly madly deeply' suka giler posting audi tuh!
me likey lagu 'savage garden'.. huhu!
lagu indonesia sedap didengar.. dan kreativiti dorg mmg tak bole dinafikan.
hari tu pernah bersembang dengan salah sorg kawan indonesia di sini, dan saya tanye dia, camane indonesia bole buat banyak lagu-lagu yg bagus.. dalam belasan tahun kebelakangan ni?
kemudian dia jawab, semua itu sebab suharto. Mungkin teman saya itu seorang anti-suharto, dan bagi dia pada zaman suharto, agak keras pemerintahannya dan ramai yang tertekan. Dan mereka di bidang seni agak disekat kebebasan berkarya dan dia percaya kalau zaman kebebasan mereka disekat tapi sebenarnya banyak idea-idea genius kreatif mula muncul dalam kepala sebagai tanda rebel.
makin di sekat, makin membuak-buak seorang itu nak berkreatif. dan bila pemerintahan suharto diambil alih oleh mereka yang lebih lembut, maka hasil2 kreatif yg tersekat itu dihidangkan buat semua orang indonesia.
saya sendiri tak tahu sejauh mana relevannya jawapan teman saya sendiri, sebab banyak point yg boleh kita pertikaikan. Mungkin itu jawapan seorang daripada berjuta-juta penduduk mereka.
saya sendiri pernah bosan dengan lagu-lagu anak band indonesia yg tiap-tiap tahun bertambah dan buat lagu yang jadikan semua perempuan jatuh hati, tapi dari segi identiti hanya satu dua yang mungkin menonjol. Melly goslow dan dewa antara yang bagi saya, sampai hari ini dah tak menyengat. dan formula yang sama. Bosan! tapi tak dinafikan saya sendiri ada musik indonesia kegemaran, spt gigi, sheila on 7, iwan fals.
dan yang paling penting negara kita ada karya yg bermutu dan jauh lagi sedap dari sini. mungkin nisbah lagu kurang sedap pada lagu sedap tu besar, maka yang terlihat banyak yang kurang sedap.
kalau radio pakai deejay yang ilmu muzik die bagus, tentu peluang lagu-lagu bagus lebih cerah kan untuk diminati. sedangkan tak banyak kita ada deejay yang tahu benar pasal ilmu muzik, lebih-lebih lagi kalau radio tu tak pakai deejay, tapi pakai penyampai radio. hehe..
setuju dengan teman 'malaysia boleh', kat sini tak banyak pun lagu msia di radio.. duk kat sini bukak radio lagi dengar lagu indonesia, balik msia bukak radio pun dengar lagu indonesia.
mari kita didik pendengar-pendengar muzik kita untuk lebih menghargai muzik best dengan perbanyakkan muzik bagus. dan yg pentign bagi peluang pada orang baru. mane tahu mereka dtg dengan idea yg best..
saya tulis semua itu sebab nak hargai muzik negara, tp sebenarnya dengar lagu itu tak ada sempadan. tak kesah sape nyanyi, yang penting suka..
I AGREE
MUSIC IS MUSIC. WE LIKE WHAT WE LIKE. REGARDLESS WHERE THE MUSIC COMES FROM. PLEASE LAHH ARTIST2 OR MUSICIANS YG TAK SEDAR2 TU. UPGRADE UR WORK, IMPROVE UR TUNE.WE LOCAL LISTENER WILL LISTEN TO YOUR SONGS IF WE WE LIKE IT.
AFTER THIS APA LAGI MAU COMPLAINT? BANNED INTERNET IN MALAYSIA COZ BECOME A NEW SOURCE FOR MUSIC???
WEI TAK MALU KE ? STOP CRYING, TUNDING2 ORG ITU INI ESP ON MELODI.WAKE UP!
BTW NOT ALL MALAYSIAN MUSIC SUCKS. THE NEW BREED OF MALAYSIAN MUSICIANS WILL SHAKE THE WORLD SOON!!
TGK LAHH!! THE PROBLEM IS THE OLD OLD PPL WHO DOESNT NOT WAKE UP AND SMELL AND PICK UP WITH THE TREND.
MUSIC HAS CHANGED. IF U DONT CHANGED DONT MAKE US LISTEN TO US SAME OL TUNE AGAIN AND AGAIN.
WAKE UP!! EXPERIMENT. BE CREATIVE!
music mmg sentiasa bertukar2..tp jgn la melampau sgt..dh la negara kite ni ramai bangsa asing..muzik pun nk tmbh gak ke??sikit2 cukup la..ni bnyk sgt..hilang akal ke apa..pakai otak la weh
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