The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion
The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion |
| Posted: 03 Jun 2011 04:45 PM PDT JUNE 4 — One of the biggest dilemmas facing independent musicians right now is the ongoing albums vs. singles debate. With the Internet pretty much entrenched as an essential part of everyday life nowadays, what this has meant for most struggling independent acts is that while it may be easier to spread the word regarding your music because of the increased accessibility afforded by the world wide web, it has also meant that business-wise, making money from albums can now be considered as an obsolete practice. In reality, most articles about the albums vs. singles debate or the effects of the Internet on marketing and business plans of independent acts do not even apply to the real life dilemmas facing the average independent act out there, simply because most of the case studies used as examples are acts that never had to face the same dilemmas as the average independent act. Take the much lauded move by Radiohead to go independent and sell digital downloads on their own website on a pay-whatever-you-like basis for example. The reason it'll undoubtedly work out well for them is that they're already a world famous band with a devoted following, a result of years of hard work (and surely much expenditure) by their former major label departments. If they're an unknown band, releasing the same album with the exact same method (with the same expensive limited edition boxsets also offered), would it have worked out as well? Personally, I doubt it. Take most other examples of Internet independent marketing success stories, and more often than not a label's financial muscle would have been involved there somehow. Arcade Fire? Well, they're on Merge Records. An independent label they may be, but they've had previous big successes with bands like Spoon, which have surely enhanced their budgets. The Shins? Well, everyone knows of Sub Pop Records by now. Vampire Weekend? Well, they signed to XL Recordings to release their albums. These are examples that would've meant nothing to an independent band in Malaysia trying to make music and who are also hoping not to lose that much money in the process. True, nowadays you can record everything on a computer or laptop (a pirated recording software CD would cost you no more than RM10), but anyone who's done home recording before will tell you that to amass the proper soundcards or interface, pre-amps, mixers and proper microphones (not to mention guitar and bass amps) would still cost you an arm and a leg and is something that the average new band can never afford. You can cheat a bit by using drum programming and all sorts of sonic software, but I can assure you the results would still not be as authentic and as warm as what you'll get in a proper studio with proper recording equipment. And to use a proper recording studio will cost you money too. So like it or not, if you want to make a proper recording, you'll have to spend proper money too, which is in quite short supply for the average Malaysian independent band. That is why some bands have decided to go the singles route and record their songs one song at a time (so that their pockets wouldn't be hurt so much as compared to recording a whole album in one go) and release them as singles every few months. Combine the cost factor with the fact that CDs just don't sell much nowadays, the argument that releasing singles is the way to go does make business sense, because you can release your singles as ringtone downloads and it's ringtones that have been bringing in the money for most people nowadays. But there's also a fallacy in this argument because unless you're someone like Aizat, Yuna, Hujan or Bunkface who sell hundreds of thousands of ringtone downloads (surely due to the fact that their singles get gargantuan mainstream radio airplay), the average independent act still won't make that much money from ringtones, whether it's singles or albums, unless you get lucky and your song somehow gets a huge amount of mainstream radio airplay. So really the actual dilemma facing the average Malaysian independent act nowadays is how to get by with little money and still sound "proper" so as to be considered serious enough with your music because for most bands the reality is that making an album is nothing more than just wanting to leave a recorded legacy for memory and history's sake. I wish I know the exact answer to this dilemma too. But so far the only way I know how is to either do that home recording thing (and risk not sounding professional enough) or spend as little money as we can in a proper recording studio by recording as fast as we can (also risking not sounding professional enough because you know what might happen when you rush things). If we manage to come out of the whole album making process without being too broke and the album sounding professional enough, then I'll consider it mission accomplished already. Whether it'll sell or not, well it is mission accomplished already, isn't it? * The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
| Posted: 03 Jun 2011 04:41 PM PDT JUNE 4 — I have a bad habit. I talk too loud. And I have a knack of doing this especially when revealing something embarrassing about myself. At the dinner table with my girlfriends, I blurted out a particularly frustrating aspect of my life, much to the amusement of the men at the next table. While I flipped my hair on to my face to cover the shame, one of them, naturally, decides to announce where I work and my position. After swearing at her and waiting for the cheeks to stop their blushing, I resumed the conversation at a much lower volume. But I had forgotten this some weeks later when I yelled into the phone in the middle of One Utama: "The maintenance, electricity and water bill payments are up-to-date right?" When I walked back into the boutique and told a girlfriend that I was going the next day to see a condo I was interested in buying, she laughed: "Yes, I heard … the whole shopping mall heard it, too." Or the other time when a girlfriend and I were discussing confidential matters – potential nominees for an award. Who knew the chances that a potential nominee would be seated at the next table would be quite high? His date must have thought so too, considering she was leaning closer to us than him. Those experiences, and after hearing a conversation on the airplane recently, I hope I've learned my lesson. Well, at least I look around first before shooting my mouth off. On board a flight back to KL, I was both amused and irritated by the conversation among four young men in the row behind me. A range of topics were covered, among them: How Mukhriz Mahathir will never be Prime Minister, and how the loudest of the group wanted to buy a Ferrari and build petrol stations along the East Coast Highway. I must admit I nearly pumped my fist in the air when the loudest one said he had a craving for "ikan goreng cecah cili padi (fried fish dipped in bird's eye chilli)". At one point when my ears had tired out (being forced to listen in an enclosed environment must have been used as some form of medieval torture tactic), I wanted to tell him to use my dry cleaning service instead of the incompetent one he was stuck with. But the passengers very soon grew annoyed at the loudness that accompanied us on the almost three-hour night flight. While they may not have understood airplane etiquette, I soon realised that the boys were probably also too dense to realise there were Malaysians on board (the entire conversation was in Malay). When one of them asked another why the flight attendant had turned on the light above me, he soon realises, "Oh, dia nak baca (Oh, she wants to read)." Hmm, I thought, they can't be that foolish to think nobody on this flight understands BM. Then they started comparing — loudly — which of the female flight attendants had the better figure. Then burst out laughing when they realised the flight attendant assisting them was Malaysian. As we descended, much to my horror, the boys started discussing which one of them got "lucky" in Yangon. Details were discussed. But it was when the loudest said: "I don't like using rubber, so I didn't use rubber…" was when I slapped my forehead, shook my head and slumped into my chair. He must have spotted me because he then said: "Eh, I think there are Malaysians on this flight, and they understand us." It dawns. Finally. Considering it was KLIA we were descending into. "Isn't your name Azhar?" his friend booms before the boys rip up in laughter. While I hoped for their sake they didn't bring back anything more than pretty gifts for their loved ones, I do hope that Azhar uses condoms the next time. And me? Shhhhhhh…. * The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
| You are subscribed to email updates from The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 ulasan:
Catat Ulasan