Lack of success?

[faramir90]

Hey all.

Im rather new to this whole singapore music scene.

Just wanna find out if the lack of success with Singapore bands is because of the lack of exposure? The first time Ive heard of a Singapore band that doesn't play for fun was electrico when they did the national day song.

Besides, I really think Electrico's music is comparable to bands in the US and UK.

So what really is the issue? Just really curious.

 

[eggman417]

one thing is lack of support from local media? can't hear/not aware of local band songs on the radio. In some countries in SEA, radio stations are required to play local original music as a law..something like 50-50 on a per hour basis...

 

[someone]

Last i heard 987 is playing at least one local track per hour. But noone really listens to the radio so that not the issue.
Lack of a supporting culture is more of the issue. Most ppl are like "oh their a local band so no big deal.."

and at the same time if we are really honest with ourselves 90% of the gigs are nothing special...

So its a vicious cycle... ppl dont support so artistes put in less effort to do something truly legendary so ppl are less wiling to support and blah blah blah...

What i would love to see is a really quality dedicated live music venue catering to 150 - 500 pax with a nice stage, stellar sound system etc where bands can perform and do themselves justice and ppl can start to build a habit of going for awesome shows.
I mean home club is great to hang out with friends and have a few drinks, but as a live band venue its really quite horrible. I though TAB had a great concept, but the place is really only suited to acoustic acts so its still pretty limited in the scope....

 

[eggman417]

I do not totally agree with you. There are venues already. Perhaps they are not enough but i can see improvements. Esplanade events, scape events. Even soft! True artists would do legendary stuff because they have a passion for it. A dedicated venue will not solve the problem lol because there are already. If you are an event organiser, you would want to make profit. Why would you get unknown acts play. But if these bands get more support in media they will be more marketable.

But i can see people now doing charity to provide free concerts. Like soft sbcs. If we cant even support these free events, we should not ask for more.

One more thing - if a band is serious with their music, they have to stay the course and sustain. Make sacrifices and pursue. Bands have to work for it and make legendary stuff to get attention. Not the other way around. If everyone will have the mindset of "i will wait for exposure before making legendary stuff" it will be tough.

Having said that, sg has a lot of talent. I really believe that we are 1 or 2 successful band away to have a good band culture in sg.

 

[RayKnight]

Please note that whatever that I have written are all based on my opinion:

I would attribute the lack of success to the fact that most Singaporeans have the mentality that local products are not very good until proven. Local celebrities didn't make it locally but outside of Singapore before Singaporeans will take notice of them. Such as Vanessa Mae, Kit Chan, Tanya Chua, JJ Lin and so on.

However:
http://english.pravda.ru/news/society/04-12-2005/72089-0/

"We" (not us, hence the quotes) are also chasing OUR local talent away. For someone who would forsake his "well-being of turning from a kid to a man" to pursue music had been "forced" to makeup for it due to "failure to serve his nation".

However, we also cannot overlook the fact that there are local musicians who "did make it", such as Dick Lee, Jacintha or Sheik Haikal. But their fame, "making it locally", isn't as "fabulous" as those who made it outside before coming back here. It is sad, indeed. But the truth is, there really are many talented musicians locally, when I was in NS, my understudy was a saxophonist, there was also a pianist who was a storeman. My warrant's brother is an Er Hu player in a Chinese orchestra, got another warrant with an awesome voice that can cover Hokkien and Cantonese songs. My friend is a vocalist who have been doing gigs and such. My other friend performs annually at Esplanade playing old Chinese music.

The thing is, we tend to "import more foreign talent than to breed local talent". I'm not sure if it is because it is "cheaper" or...something else, really. But I don't really know. In my opinion, when I see the Ping Pong Finals on TV for Olympic Games, I see as "China VS China" rather than "Singapore VS China". We really, really, really need / must / ought to invest in our local talents. Not by buying them but by breeding / training / educating / making / creating / -insert whatever word appropriate- the local ones. I'm not against bringing in foreigners or something, but I just feel we shouldn't bring them in to represent us. Bringing them in to train us is perfectly fine. Only when we broaden our horizon before we will learn to accept and get better. "Each mountain higher than the next" is a Chinese proverb. When we are expose to more music, we have a choice what we want to specialise in and what we want to focus on.

There is only so much we can do, BUT, there is so much more we COULD HAVE done. There are exposures to local musicians, but just not enough. We do not suffer from a lack of talent, we just aren't exposed enough. In a way, I'm glad our guitar heroes are coming to Singapore for local concerts (Iron Maiden, Eric Clapton, Pearl Jam (many years ago), Slash), but there should also be effort to help create talent rather than buying them.

It's not only attitude or aptitude, it is also attribute. "We" can only attribute the "lack of success" to "ourselves".

 

[faramir90]

Riki Hendrix too. If I may add.

 

[blueprintstudios]

faramir90 : local scene 10 years back was pretty sucksassful , now I kinda think of it as a break even and a huge leap. so give it another 10 years more. talk to ya again in 2020.

 

[arrogant bastard]

Singapore radio did not support our local band...

 

[faramir90]

Need a band to get signed onto a major label.. Go Caracal!

 

[arrogant bastard]

Alrite...u can sign up my band..arrogant moron..my number 91876571 mizzarli

 

[LadyInTears]

remember Ronin?

still love em

 

[wjvocalist]

I am not concerned about the music scene in Singapore is successful or not.
It's the mentality, culture and mindset we have to change.

How many are willing to contribute to the Singapore music scene through different ways?

As for me, I would rather put in actions to promote and explore music through my music blog
(musicartlifesg blog) than just complain and complain. Cos thats not going to help anyway.

Ask ppl for help to promote music through continuous effort. How many are willing to
spend their time to watch live music performances, do music interviews and etc...?
How many are even willing to find like-minded ppl to sit down and discuss on
promoting and improving the standard of music scene in Singapore?

 

[faramir90]

Alrite...u can sign up my band..arrogant moron..my number 91876571 mizzarli

Lol. Im not from a major label..

But just stating my point.

And yes. Ronin rocks socks too.

 

[parablue74]

Why?? Can't tell you with conviction, since i'm not a big success myself, but what i can see is=>
A) Songs not produced properly, and i'm ok with Electrico's music, just that i can still see much improvements they need to make in terms of production..
B) Lack of self-promotion, bands just want to perform, not interested to market/promote themselves
C) Lack of strong label support, labels here have weak market power compared with overseas
D) Lack of crowd, so many times i see gigs, and people attending are Soft.com people, the majority of layman are still nostalgic to cover top 40s.
E) Lack of paying original gigs, Singapore is a materialistic country
F) Lack of radio support, and why? Cos of A) B) C) D) & E)
G) Lack of commitment from members, overseas musicians work very hard, local musicians majority put music as a side priority, becos of all the above factors
H) Lack of music market knowledge, I've talked to many musicians, and too many i met either have never read any music business book, or read too little of it.
I) Lack of Patience, too many original bands are getting their songs out to the public, without even perfecting their songs, result in J)
J) Weak Public Opinion, not becos original bands are not talented, but becos they just charge out with un-perfected songs, and too much of the public have heard a drop down standard, and have set a lousy impression of local music

 

[ridethetiger]

well said, Calvin, it sure seems a lot of "lackys" there.
U hit the nail on the spot with the word "materialistic"
I think that pretty sums up other points because it involves other qualities,impatience, people with $ don't want to invest or support etc.
However, i feel that we lack national integrity,in the sense that we are proud to be singaporeans. But we always suck it up to music imported from other countries. That's pretty much what everyone knows. So this national identity is lacking. We just have to find out why is that so.

 

[littleboi]

Because our bands are not fun to watch. Simple as that. We like to find excuses in everything, but the truth is the level of bands are not up to par with those in uk or states. Even phillipine and malaysia are way ahead of us.

Lets face it, 99% if the lead singers in singapore who do originals are boring to watch. 'Hi, we are called blah blah blah, i hope you guys like this song'. Thats not really rock n roll.

Apart from the fact that most singaporean frontmen are bland as water, the music made by the band is nothing to go crazy about. The technically adept players would become sessionist covering people's songs or just playing in a genre that has a niche market, prefering to stroke their egos as opposed to connecting with the mass. The players with decent chops would try to write something radio-friendly, but it just sounds like a water-ed down version of whatever is popular on the radio. And the technically inept players.... well....

I have been to more than afew dozen gigs in singapore, and i hate to admit it but the top 3 bands i have seen perform live are all from overseas. And yes, I have seen most of singapore's top acts before( zero sequence, electrico, allura, caracal, ronin).

All the local bands ive mentioned, imo, in no way 'sucks'. They are tight as a band, singer sings on pitch. But, they are just not pushing themselves to the next level as entertaininers.

 

[jbarks]

16 posts and nobody mentions A&R... I think we've all got a lot to learn in the music industry here. As the saying goes: talk does not cook rice!

 

[blueprintstudios]

the ones who would have mentioned about A&R are busy A&Ring out there than posting here i guess.

 

[jbarks]

That, or they're in Taiwan

 

[faramir90]

Or China. Or the rest of SEA.