Can you be rich playing music for a living in sg?

[angusyoung]

hmm, tomhess did post a lot of thinking stuff. i wld put pug jelly as an example. their music was produced in sg, so i expected their fans to be limited in sg. but i visited their website n went to the forum, i found out that they had fan not only in sg but the phillipines, australia and us if im not wrong. correct me if i am. i remember readin some of the posts and the overseas fans posted, asking them when were they going to tour in their countries. now how did they have overseas fans? i wld assume that they put their recordings on the net then. let other pple frm other countries listen n stuff. so i guess we CAN make it big if we want to. and if we DARE to. if electirco and ronin have the resources, they shld try promoting their album in the UK and US. theres no harm tryin right? or they cld also visti the US or UK radio station website and send them their songs n an email askin 'hey we're frm a singapore band n wld like to know if u guys over there like our music.' i mean like, who knows, they might hit UK and US charts. also the pple over those 2 countries are more open than us singaporeans. to be honest, the only singaporean i know of who has touched US media soil is Fann Wong when she acted in Shanghai Knights. i dont know of other musicians or actors or singers.

tomhess is right. we shld think beyond just our pple and this tiny island country. we have the internet so thus we can distribute our music on the net. now tomhess said that we have HUGE oppurtunities to earn a rich living in sg. i assume thats where economics come into play. if americans likes ronin, the members of Ronin are gonna be millionaires. cuz frm america, it'll spread to the UK, and then Europe. n then thats when the tours come n stuff.

fellow, singaporeans, im all out for anyone of u who wants to make it big. yes really i am. cuz when i saw Fann Wong up on that screen next o Jackie Chan n Owen Wilson, i didnt see Fann Wong alone but i saw Singapore up there. i felt, well, proud u know. DARE to dream guys. dont look at the boundaries or negativeness. im sure there is a percentage where a local band can make it big globally. FOCUS on that percentage. no matter if its 56%, 20% or even 1 bloody percent, so long as its not 0% u still can do it.

ok um, i think i shared quite a bit already. this is just what i thought so yeah.

 

[Ichiro]

i totally agree to angusyoung theory. As long as there is chance no matter how small, musicians like us should go for it.....

 

[angusyoung]

thank you.

 

[MadWerewolfBoy]

yes, the "door" to the US, UK and other European countries from sg is quite "locked"

doors between the US, UK and other European countries aren't

the main idea to to break through into any of these countries and it will soon spread easily between the rest

where is this "key" to the lock? well, there are many expensive ones that may or may not work but like what tomhess, angusyoung and a few others have said, theres the INTERNET.

its a very cheap medium to spread messages. the way it can be used is wide and varied. how one uses it to one's advantage is only limited to his imaginations.

if we cannot get enought sponsors for $$$, we can always compromise in other ways. one obvious 1 is the net. by the net, u can connect to other media bodies like radio of other countries, music websites of other countroes and many more. if local bands/artists can be featured on MTV asia, i don't see why they shouldn't try to expand into a million other things!



but again, it is feasible, however, it is not easy...

 

[mikemann]

Whatever you do, be it a musician, technician, sweeper, doctor, priest...etc.

As long as you are happy with what you do. You look forward to the next day of work today. You have enough to eat.

I think you are richer than a billionaire tycoon who have to put a false front all the time, loathed by his underlings, and don't have the care-free-ness of a 'poor' person.

Spiritual richness should be more important then material richness.

 

[MadWerewolfBoy]

mikemann: definately,

no 1 should sacrifice too much freedom or true real personality for $$$... we should aim to earn what what we're comfortable with comfortably... if we earn a tad too much, we should donate the excess...

but still... some people have the natural capacity to earn a looot lot lot but they don't have the way to... well, its a rat race, if u have the capacity, go all out to reach ur maximum potential... all the excess $$$ u earn can later be donated to the less fortunate..

its a robinhood theory... as the world's totaly $$$ is fixed, if a good guy has the capacity but don't make full use of it, the $$$ he is missing out would just go to some other richer business man who might be a scrouge...

so morla of the story: kope as much $$ from the rich to ur capacity... with the excess, donate to the less fortunate...

 

[angusyoung]

i totally agree with u guys on that

 

[detroit_red]

It's like why Westlife and stuff are so popular here but Americans have no idea who they are...

 

[candie]

Who wouldn't love to be rich? (Duhhhhhhh)

But if you're doing something you really really love, sacrificing a 10k salary for a 1k paycheck would be worth it, in my opinion. I'd rather have a full time not-so-well-paid job as a musician than a routine, mundane job that earns me big bucks. That's me I guess. =p

 

[rottenramone]

..

you can be rich by being a doctor/engineer/lawyer

you can be rich by selling chao kuay tiao at $2 a plate

i think a better thread heading shd read "how to be rich by being a musician in singapore"

 

[jtsang2501]

Hmmm, I know the thread here really is about getting rich by being a musician in Singapore. But I feel that it's not so much the money that we're really after, but it really is the success that we attribute to the money. I mean, if one musician earns 10k and the other earns 4k we assume that the former is more successful right?

Yes, we want to make our music and we want to go as far as we can. Spread everything worldwide. But I think there really isn't a 'best' way to do so.

We as Singaporeans we're pretty lazy la, let's face it. Not that we wouldn't be bothered enough to practice our music. Rather, we're lazy to plan for the future. And that's the one thing that I find lacking amongst us all. If we really want to make it big, I feel we just gotta sit down and put down in writing what I gonna do by when. What are my goals. If I want to play this kind of music, who would most want to listen to it, and are there more ways than one to reach that target market.

There's a whole lot to be thought out and much extensive planning to get there. I for one am not a real planner kinda person myself. But I feel that collectively we have to break out of that dream where we take part in some music competition some day and win a contract then take the world by storm. It just doesn't happen that way.

If you really wanna make it big as a musician, you plan what to do. And you make sure you know what's going on.

just my 2 cents worth.

 

[jumbofret]

+1 mikemann. Why does this thread focus on being rich as a musician, rather than being a successful musician?



Yeah, rottenramone's right. I think people need to learn what "can" really means... lol

 

[bongman]

maybe - can a musician in Singapore pay their bills?
buy a house and a car, have a family?

 

[jumbofret]

"Can you be rich playing music for a living in sg?"

Being able to "pay their bills, buy a house and a car, have a family" is not rich.

Rich means you can do all that and have excess money.

Actually, you can!! As long as you have a pretty face and the X-Factor, anything goes!

You only have to lip-synch on stage, play an unplugged electric guitar, do product endorsements etc...

Be the next "Milli Vanilli" lor. :lol:

 

[stillwater]

while there are these few who takes home 4k n above monthly, many more others are struggling to pay their bills. Nevertheless, i've always respect wise musicians who go full-time, living and struggling for their passion. kudos!

my reference of wise goes to those who knew the road ahead is gonna be tough, n r willing to work extra hard (ie taking up odd jobs) just to pay bills. not those rich kids whose parents have all the money to send them to GIT, berklee etc... come back still living on parent's money. neither does this category applies to those silly idiots who do it solely in the name of fame n fortune

personally, i find for one who does not do it for a living, doesn't necessarily is any less a musician. i guess ultimately music lives in our heart.

also, im glad i made the rite choice not to quit school to go fulltime... being shortly after that my family was facing much financial difficulty, n i managed to get a job to ease some of that. i guess at some point of time we will get to realize that we dun just live for ourselves.

though im in no position to advise, i would suggest to our younger friends in soft who wants to go all out (n feeling it so strongly deep inside) not to act on impulse, but to continue studying if u can first(n of cos still continue playing). u'll nv know, 10 years down the road things may change (well wat u think 10 years ago may have gone thru a lot of changes by now yah?)

its... not tt bad not being fulltime actually... i dun earn a lot but im quite sure i take home more than many musicians, u get to have more cash to satisfy ur GAS, give more money to your parents, meet ppl who r not in the music circle... n in your afterwork hours, still meet musicians n play your music passionately. Cheers.

 

[HeartRockSingapore]

Are Singaporeans rich? Are Euthopians poor? While there are extreme examples in both countries, the generalization is true. Again there is this thing call "relative". You can be rich in materials but poor in spirit and vice versa.

And music is just one of the many things Singaporeans can do to make a living, just that it has not become a mainstream item like healthcare, transportation, or finance. Is there a possibility of it getting into the prestigious list? WHY YES? It is a major contributor to western economy, and it has given many fame and fortune. If we can do the many things in science and technology that equates and in some cases surpasses the west, I do not see why Singapore cannot excel in music. If this happens, you will only ask "How do I get rich playing music?" and not "Will I get rich playing music?".

 

[bongman]

"Can you be rich playing music for a living in sg?"

hey,
nowadays quite hard
there are always critics out there
look at the boy bands - what happened?

 

[angusyoung]

arent Euthopians like, extreme poor...? ok correct me if im wrong.

 

[jtsang2501]

yes they are extremely poor.

 

[rottenramone]

..

hmm, tomhess did post a lot of thinking stuff. i wld put pug jelly as an example. their music was produced in sg, so i expected their fans to be limited in sg. but i visited their website n went to the forum, i found out that they had fan not only in sg but the phillipines, australia and us if im not wrong. correct me if i am. i remember readin some of the posts and the overseas fans posted, asking them when were they going to tour in their countries. now how did they have overseas fans? i wld assume that they put their recordings on the net then. let other pple frm other countries listen n stuff. so i guess we CAN make it big if we want to. and if we DARE to. if electirco and ronin have the resources, they shld try promoting their album in the UK and US. theres no harm tryin right? or they cld also visti the US or UK radio station website and send them their songs n an email askin 'hey we're frm a singapore band n wld like to know if u guys over there like our music.' i mean like, who knows, they might hit UK and US charts. also the pple over those 2 countries are more open than us singaporeans. to be honest, the only singaporean i know of who has touched US media soil is Fann Wong when she acted in Shanghai Knights. i dont know of other musicians or actors or singers.

tomhess is right. we shld think beyond just our pple and this tiny island country. we have the internet so thus we can distribute our music on the net. now tomhess said that we have HUGE oppurtunities to earn a rich living in sg. i assume thats where economics come into play. if americans likes ronin, the members of Ronin are gonna be millionaires. cuz frm america, it'll spread to the UK, and then Europe. n then thats when the tours come n stuff.

fellow, singaporeans, im all out for anyone of u who wants to make it big. yes really i am. cuz when i saw Fann Wong up on that screen next o Jackie Chan n Owen Wilson, i didnt see Fann Wong alone but i saw Singapore up there. i felt, well, proud u know. DARE to dream guys. dont look at the boundaries or negativeness. im sure there is a percentage where a local band can make it big globally. FOCUS on that percentage. no matter if its 56%, 20% or even 1 bloody percent, so long as its not 0% u still can do it.

ok um, i think i shared quite a bit already. this is just what i thought so yeah.

Sorry to bring up this huge quote, and I'm going to kill this thread for a bit.

I would like to bring up the point abt the cultural products that singapore exports. True, we have good stuff, the talent, the skills etc, but I think for us to really explode commercially is the packaging.

if pugjelly were chinese, malay or indian, would they be marketeable internationally?

Do our bands have the appeal marketeability to push beyond our shores?
What makes singapore music 'singapore'?

i think ronin is tops in marketing and packaging, they're doing well to push their stuff. but they do need to tour around the region. electrico's doing well too in their touring bit. It's paying off too.

and i think you've forgotten other singaporeans who had hollywood experiences, lim kay tong, jaymee ong (is she sgrean?), ivan heng, and of course annabelle chong (not hollywood, but you get the idea).