Icelandic & Singapore music scenes - Why They Can and We Can't

[RoRK]

Mando-pop and Malay music industries, me thinks we've got folks that already made it.

Engrish music here still has ways to go.

Why?

Marketing! The record companies invest more in mando-pop. Malay musicians move to Malaysia where the record companies there do the marketing.

If Taufik can sell 30K of his first CD then it goes to show that marketing and hype goes a long way towards establishing an artiste and creating interests that is sufficient enough to make people go out to buy the album.

Without the marketing and the hype, Taufik wouldn't have sold that many CDs.

Engrish music here doesn't get the moolahs to push through. Even then, me thinks our bands aren't good enough. BUTTTTTTT there is talent that can make it BUTTTTTTTTTTT they are split up amongst different bands.

And even if they were to somehow get together to form a band, they would still need a kickass producer. And then work hard to get themselves heard outside of Singapore, to the extent where record companies (locally or overseas) are willing to market them at a level sufficient enough to gain international exposure and recognition.

Can make it lah but for now, perhaps easier to get struck by lightning.

[dir]

yes and that's only 20% of the world that's ever going to care about jj lin and his songs. who is this jj lin anyway

edit: and speaking of marketing, you don't need it to produce good music anyway. we're talking about stuff that can do well critically, not just commercially

[RoRK]

edit: and speaking of marketing, you don't need it to produce good music anyway. we're talking about stuff that can do well critically, not just commercially

Without marketing, what are the chances that anyone, of significance in world music, is going to hear your music? You're in Singapore dude.

In the US, critically acclaimed artistes such as Rickie Lee Jones can win Grammys without selling millions of records. BUTTTTTT that's because she's got a well-known producer and she gets some of the industry's best sessionists to play on her records.

First and foremost - get a great band going, one that writes great songs and one where at least one of the band members have a great personality.

Then, market the band and album like there is no tomorrow or yesterday.

Then pray to God that lightning doesn't strike you before you make it big.

[dir]

yes, those are steps to 'make it big', so to speak... but being just content to make music that can paint stories and share and evoke feelings is something else.

Firstly, I don't think it's even fair to compare between the music scenes in Iceland and Singapore. It's two totally different places in the world.

if anyone has got the recent Heima dvd by Sigur Ros and watch the videos, you can easily see why. They were traveling in and around Iceland, playing to crowds from anywhere to a small room, to abandoned places, to livestock and to hundreds, thousands of people in vast open fields and hills, with campfires around. People were bringing their families, grandparents..small children. All to celebrate and participate in the spirit of music. It's really nice to see such an open community willing to embrace music that's free of any bounds and doesn't even need much commercialisation. It's a testament to the power of music.

Now the question begs, do we really need such a community to produce good music at all, or to 'make it big'?

[ac]

i think you guys need to constrain the definition of making it. In general, icelandic musicians haven't made it in their own countries. Locals come out to see the shows, but the money isn't really there. It's only the overseas market, sales, gigs, etc, that propel them to the level that the music eventually makes it across to our shores.

For the sigur ros concerts, those in attendance, also include the aunties and uncles that are there for the free concert. That's an attitude that also happens for some of our own old fogeys, except that ours go "zi eh si simi lai eh?".

Let's face some facts, if the definition of making it is to play big festivals, and have million dollar album sales, all within the western world, then unfortunately that will never happen. Most westerners wouldn't give 2 hoots about another fall out boy clone, another stooges rehash, another keane concoction. The reason why iceland's musical exports work and ours don't is simply because they are white, and have a significant cultural difference from the rest of the majority of white folks. For whitey, it's a comfortable difference that plays to the need for cultural cachet while not being distant enough that their peers don't recognise the significance.

btw i've seen jj lin perform. The song wasn't bad at all. Not anywhere close to my taste, but a great musical performance nonetheless. I can see how his music can be appreciated by the chinese pop community.

[ac]

Oh and

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b98_1216204029

[dir]

whiteys always be keeping us down
i say is time for us to step up and show em what's what
ya dig? chyea

[Aki S. Ian]

oh well, singapore..

i have to join the other guy when i gave a long sigh

[RoRK]

Aiyah, it's got nothing to do with skin colour or even looks (although image is important but image and looks are two different things).

Blacks have done well amongst the whites and there was Angun and Coco Lee.

RoRK gotch believe that the world loves music enough that if you gotch great music then the world donch care if you're black, white, green or purple. Or big, fat, short, tall pretty or ugly.

[ac]

cultural relativism is a lovelovelovelovelove when we're a mix of many cultures combined with a soul destroying pragmatism. Just remember that to get to the multi platinum level, the audience has to relate to you, for you to embody the things that they want to be. Make a guess whether being asian vs anything else is going to be a plus point.

i heard that anggun's angle is that she's hooked up with the producer. hehe