It’s been 26 long years in the music business… but I have no complaints… you see like most people involved in it, it is a curse. The passion for the business consumes you, drags you in and holds you forever.
Music is magic…. You hear a tune and it triggers a flashback in your brain. Whether it was your schools days, you first boyfriend/girlfriend or the day you lost your job. We can help but turn to the soothing sounds (or the angst whatever your choice may be) of music. Music colors your life everywhere you turn.
I have only one grouse in that people nowadays take music for granted because it is so readily available. No one ever thinks what a movie would be without a soundtrack, what it would be like to be stuck in a traffic jam or driving long distance, and I wonder what those fashionable phones and mp3 players would be like without music.
The ironic thing is that in this day and age where music is everywhere, because it is so portable, and music can sell like no other medium can, we have forgotten about the creators for without them there is no music. Strangely enough music drives everyone’s advertising campaign telecommunication companies, mobile phone makers, television stations, movie soundtracks, but the creators still get the bad end of the deal.
People are in dire need of content to drive advertising dollar and vie for the consumer dollar. Most of the content is music or entertainment driven. PLEASE give music, it’s creators, it’s movers and it’s shakers what they are due.
We have lost two whole generations to piracy. First physical (cassettes and CDs) and now with downloads (internet). Kids today spend a lot of money on lifestyle otherwise people would not be spending millions advertising their newest deal on talktime, who makes the best ice blended, what the trendiest phone in town is, cars that can plug in mp3 players… but when it comes time to buy music to add value to the lifestyle everyone turns to downloads with absolutely no thought (and no conscience) to those who deserve the money.
In an affluent age, from which we are from, you would think people would purchase albums. “Album are expensive”, is the excuse… from people who drink RM10.00 coffee and change their mobile phone every 6 months.
An album does not only involve the artistes. Just read the album cover and it will tell you there were musicians, producers, composers, lyricist, arrangers, sound engineers, album cover designers and later on when the album is marketed it will involve video directors, sound and light companies, entertainment journalists, record company executives and countless other people that give their creative input and professional energy.
We cannot hope to change the mindset of a generation brought up with freebies and a total disregard of creative talent. But everything starts with you and me. When you feel you want to download a song, when your kid downloads and burns an illegal CD, when someone buys a pirate copy of a CD or cassette… think again…..turn off the radio, kill the sounds of the mp3 player you’re holding, turn the volume of the movie you’re watching down …. Life will NEVER be the same without MUSIC.
Meanwhile to the brave men and women that continue to work this industry with passion and hope, I salute you. They give their lives to entertain you and me …. There’s really is NO business like show business.
