Ahmad Izham Omar changed my day. Here stood a person with very much the same beliefs as mine and the gumption to do it… make the difference. It’s when I meet people that share the same affinity for the business, fight the same battles and have aspirations going forward that reassures me that we have a chance (The only other thing that keeps me going is the talent singers, composers, that continues to emerge in our industry).
First and foremost if you’re thinking of doing something, do something different. You have to dare instead of trying to emulate someone else in your market. How many Raihan’s or Siti Nurhaliza’s can we have. You want to do Nasyid do it a different way. You want to do pop think out of the box. It’s always easy for people to shoot you down but hey, you never know until you try. The biggest inventions and success stories came from pipe dreams and fierce determination.
Secondly you need a concept, a sound that is you. Yes, the sound changes, evolves, matures with you and your listeners but you don’t try to capture 10 different markets and lose all. I’m talking about the albums with 10 producers, 5 different genres just so that you can enter every category there is on an award show or target every radio station that we have. You need to understand what is you, what is your strength and then just go for it. The Artistes that have had the best impact have stayed true to their sound…. M. Nasir, Sheila Majid, Sharifah Aini, Jamal Abdillah, Faizal Tahir, Yuna and Aizat.
Next is the want and the need to compete, to do better. We are a complacent bunch of people. We have things too easy. So we reach a certain degree we pat ourselves on the back, lean back and rest on our laurels. NO! The pedal to the metal all the time, if not someone is going to overtake you, someone will do better than you. In a time where change and innovation happens on a daily basis you cannot afford to sit back. The business is evolving all the time whether it is technology, people, tastes, marketing concepts so we need to keep up, change, move, shake things up.
In the wings we have the complainers…. Not enough local composition, not enough airplay, blame outsiders, want protection, dictating wants and the list goes on. “It’s like doing the Malaysian Squash Open and not allowing outsiders to compete”… yup, that’s right… Nicole David is the BEST IN THE WORLD.. not the best in Malaysia. Protectionism and dictating are not ways to improve in the long run. If people aren’t playing your songs it’s because they aren’t good enough. If people don’t choose you to perform it’s because you aren’t good enough. Yes the truth hurts but then you take it and make yourself better not wallow in self pity and wonder why.
Essentially if something doesn’t work, change, listen to what people are saying on the ground. If you come against a brick wall you can choose to bang your head against it, climb over it or choose another path. There are more ways to skin a cat. The choice is yours.
On centrestage we have the stars in the business. People who have been through it all, been down, gone up and still want to do more. They have staying power because they are constantly changing, updating. When they know things are not going their way they know how to dig deep and reinvent themselves, over and over again. They know what people want or need, even when the people don’t realize it. Yes, once again Izham pictured it well through the eyes of Henry Ford the car maker, “If I asked people what they wanted, they would say faster horses” (Nobody would have imagined a car in those days).
I’m not an innovator but I’m damn good at spotting an innovator. I’m an executor and my job is to help the innovator realize the dream. This is something I get immense joy and self-satisfaction from in making dreams come true. I see the dream, I feel the dream and I (and a whole bunch of others) make it happen. It doesn’t matter that my seat is not on the front row, just knowing that I helped to make a difference no matter where I sit is enough.
Yes sometimes it’s not the TRIED and tested otherwise eventually you become TIRED and tested. In today’s world there are no boxes, no faster horses just wide open space and spaceships, bicycles, jets and just about anything you can imagine.
