Should SOFT get help from the government?

Should SOFT get help from the government?


  • Total voters
    47
where is he anyways

I havent seen James in here for quite a while? Is he overseas?

Would James wanna deal with the team in white? shudders!!!!

My vote is no. Lets keep this as it is. If ever Soft is in trouble, do a fund raiser....as from the last time it did, it was a good response.

I could do without upgrading but i cannot do without the freedom.
 
hi hi

thanks for all the encouraging words. definitely reassuring myself of what i believe in.

over the years, i have spent a huge amount of my personal time to build up this website. at the expense of my family/wife time. but it brings great satisfaction when i see newbie who picked up music making 3 years ago, have now improved and attain certain proficiency.

i have a very 'stressful' day job and SOFT brings me back to the 'wild' side.

* i deal with the man in white all the time, they are just like you and me. doing their job.
 
soft said:
* i deal with the man in white all the time, they are just like you and me. doing their job.

sigh... just that we all work for diffirent companies....
 
how bout??

ever tried combining wit other organisations tat is involved in the music industries??hu knows...frm there u can get grants..or watever ur looking for to achieve ur aim..
 
I would suggest to raise funds from softies first,to see if it can enhance the budget.First and foremost,the placement for "musicians wanted" and it's reponses should at least make a $0.20 per ad and per response, what do you think of it, James?
 
i know this is easier said than done, but isn't the whole idea to push local musicians way UP here in sg?

funds>regular gigs+lots of publicity+good players>booming music scene

rbg's idea is wad i thought of too, doesnt sound unachievable.
 
soft said:
i almost cried when i approached them last time.

NAC: "Oh, but yours is a website? We cannot fund websites, maybe you can approach IDA."

IDA: "Oh, you want to produce video material? I think you better approach MDA, they do film/video."

MDA: "Oh, we have a Internet Public Education fund but yours is not really quite what we do."

But I believe the fund/grant is there, just that I am not knocking on the right door.

don't waste time wif top management: ie just continue to do wat u do..i think SOFT has done so much more for the musix scene (& arts scene) then some crap big guns who donate lots of money wif lots of power but only wayang to show people tat they are "promoting" arts:

let us at the ground level do something positive together to show tat we can achieve something great without the government: just like David with the battle against the giant goliath ... kill a giant with 1 stone :lol:
 
getting big companies to sponsor? ever tried creative? since creative into the music thing... yeah. just to give you some hope..
 
Hi Soft

Sorry I joined the party a little late, but I'm very interested in doing something for the local music scene as well.

My suggestion is why don't we learn from the Atticus clothing line? Mark Hoppus and friends successfully married two different, but closely related art mediums together to come up with a project to give support and exposure to fledging bands.

What they do is, they help fund local bands to play gigs, local bands endorse their clothes, then all these indie people wants one of these shirts because their fav bands have it, then some more people wants them too because everybody has 1, and this generates revenue, and it all comes back full circle when the revenue is used to promote these bands.

Of cos, Atticus had the stacks of greens sitting in their vaults to bring all of these into motion, which is exactly what we are severely lacking right from the start. But without the bands to promote their stuffs, and without the designers to even create the merc, there wouldn't had been a success story.

Of cos you don't have to emulate Atticus totally, but what I propose is that for S.O.F.T to be able to achieve all the things you envisioned, it will need to find a way to stamp it's name (even if in small font, you got to start somewhere right haha) on those major local music events, and then with ride on this sort of recognition to make the kind of money before you can make things happen.

For such a strategy to work, you probably will need to network and win the support of already established local bands to promote the forums. It's mutual right? Then more people will visit the website, and this means advertisers will pay you more money. Then you can cut deals with talented designers to sell products on your website, endorsed by musicians who are "friends of S.O.F.T", and get a piece off that cake too. Then perhaps finally that will give you enough site income to work on bigger things, and our radio, our logistics team for gigs, more resources for aspiring musicians, flourishing music scene, all of that will come.

ALso, selling mercs on a website which has attained a certain level of popularity is rather commonplace too, although not in conjunction with another company. Take for example, urbandictionary.com and a few others

Sorry I'm rambling, but I'm rather sleepy at work too. Haha I'm sure there are loopholes in my suggestion, but please I invite you to muse over this idea and give it critique.

I like the concert of S.O.F.T finest thingy too, and a fair to go with it. Softies won't be too keen on giving donations on membership fees, however if they come for the free music, they will likely spend money at the fair, which when you collect the rent from stall holders, it will still mean the same thing as donations. And this type of thing can also reach out to more people, as those who never heard of S.O.F.T to begin with, will come in contact with the publicity of the fair.

OK tats all gtg, talk to you all later, it's a friday evening!
 
how bout putting our names and petitioning this together? showing how many pple in singapore are so seriously interested in getting this online platform right. just a suggestion :D
 
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Contribution & Donation - To Self Fund Soft's

It's really not easy to get the $$$$ out from the Government to fund Music Website in Singapore (but not that it's impossible, it could be just too long & tedious a process here too).

I'm in Soft Forum everyday (even before I became a Moderator here), and this is our Cyber-Home so-call which I spend alot of time and I love it here.

May I propose:-

(1) On Soft side - Continue trying to get the funds from the Government ( Let's all help and check - which Organisation or People to approach correctly) for a long term approach... BUT ... Don't place too much high hope on this - It's a Bonus really if we can get it.... nevetheless yes we try

for now......

(2) Let's us set up a Donation (Contribution) Funds Section - where Softies can donate any amount at their own willingness & abilities (not compulsory) - It's the thoughts that counts.

Let's put in our little fair share here - Help Soft, Help You, Help Us Ourself - to make this a nicer cyber home for everyone here. Alot of money is needed to run a good site especially one that is very fast growing like Soft Music.

PS:- DrummerWorld (owner Bernhard) had actually set up something like these - getting Contribution from it's Forum Members through some PayPal/VISA/MASTERCARD Thing (cause the forum is in US) - Here in Singapore I don't know how it works - but it can be done...and rest assured I'm in it for sure (Donating To Soft).

The Link to DrummerWorld Site - Scroll All The Way To The Bottom - you 'll see the Donation Dialogue Box)http://www.drummerworld.com/


(3) There are of course other ways to help Soft through other Efforts:-

In a certain CC (here in Singapore) - I used to be with them. The Musician play once or twice a week in a Venue eg. Robertson Walk - They are Hobbyists. What happens is that they get 50% of the money and another 50% goes to the CC to help run it better....SO ... we can also think along this line of generating income for Soft.

Just An Example: - We have a Drum Xchange Singapore here in Soft - and we have pretty good Drummers (but the group is still in it's Building & growing stage ) - An example would be:-

If Soft's Drum Xchange Singapore can get some income through some Event Organiser (there are many here- my friend will probably pass me some contact later-on as they have paid-gig every week - a Group of Hand-Drummers call Rythmn Earth) - - - and Soft Drum Xchange Singapore have the opportunity to drum based on this kind of Lobang - The money can be a form of donating in it's own way to Soft Forum here.......Soft's Drummers Get Exposed as we enjoy our Drumming Hobby/Get-Together in our this Passion and can at the same time DXS (as an entity of Soft) is able to chip in our fair share of help our very own Soft Forum (- - Why Not?.....It's an idea - I don't know if it will work - nevertheless we will try it - as soon as our IDENTITY is UP.ppp..

When we try there is a little chance of success rate, if we don't - There is ZERO Chance.


PS: - Let's chip in Ideas here - any kind of Idea - on how we can help generate some income to help Soft run this forum Bro/Sis - -

Warmest Regards

Eric
 
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Nice list of suggestions made, but all of them are just that: suggestions, not action.

Here are my thoughts on one of the example:

I like the idea of the gig + garage sale/bazaar thing. Great chance for everyone to meet and get to know each other; beyond the online world. But will it generate enough revenue to kick start any of the ideas James have? I can't say for sure really. You have to consider that you have to SPEND an initial amount of money to actually run something like that: venue, equipment, stalls, publicity, misc items etc etc. And is James gonna be doing this alone?

Sponsorship would be a solution, but that would mean meeting and discussing and compromising on things, and mostly the sponsors have more say than the organisers. So many people to meet, so many people to talk to and only one guy looking into it.

What Soft really needs is not money. It's manpower. And I am not talking about the online scheme of things. I think Soft has a fair amount of mods to keep things running in good order. Soft needs a team to execute certain "administrative" duties, or staffs to execute some of the plans James have. Just have to look at his list to know what he needs:

Content - educational, entertainment or informational.

We can all suggest so many things, but someone needs to execute. Hence, manpower for that.

SOFT Radio - get real people to host the show and even produce recording of bands for the Radio.

We can have people jumping in the boat to get their voices heard, but who is planning the play list, scheduling the timings, or even produce the recordings?

Promote SOFT to schools when we have enough material to help students learn more about making music.

Again, Soft needs people to have those material.

Train a team to provide logistics/production/promotion to bands/gigs

Lol. Nuff said.

Scholarship for deserving talented musician

This is where money is needed most. But again, to get money, Soft needs people to look for it. It is just impossible for James to do all this alone.

I think each of us are willing to spare some change for Soft. But I think Soft needs something more precious: time and energy. Who is willing to spare some of that?
 
Well, I can't offer up any more suggestions that haven't already been mentioned by the others, but I can offer one thing: if you need someone to pen proposals or promotional material, I'd be glad to help out.
 
Hi guys i just joined this awesome site. Never knew that this kind of site existed in singapore. I am starting one with a couple of friends.

Its more of a magazine style blog. So i can do interviews of artists & list them on our directory. The website is meant to provide exposure for local artists & djs to commercial entities. I am not trying to compete but to complement. If you are interested in working together that would be awesome.

party on...
 
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