Friday, August 15, 2008

Let US ALL Look In The Mirror First - Part 2

To ensure that i give my riders a balanced picture of the entire scenario (unlike someone)...i feel it is very important that i get some feedbacks from THE person who started (i don't mean in a negative way) bringing this foreign artists issue to the public...if you recall not too long ago Amy Search (i call him abg Amy) was interviewed by a few mainstream malay dailies with regards to this issue way before Karyawan did anything...

You see abg Amy has been inviting me over to his house for lepak2 n sembang2 for many times before...but some how i never got the chance around it...so coinsidently i had to send something to him so i took the opportunity to interview him (see pics below) to hear what he has to say about all this RAA RAA...(and got his consent to post what transpired in BML)

To make it easier for my fellow riders to follow closely what he has to say...i shall put it in a dialogue format as follows:

Q1. EE : Apa pendapat abg tentang issue 90:10 ni?

A1. Amy : 90:10 is not the actual and right jalan penyelesaian...ada banyak lagi faktor2 lain yang terlibat dalam kedesakan industry kita ni...sebelum (fyi CRM was scheduled to meet Karyawan - which they have agreed to, for a closed dialogue session next week 22/8 but we don't see the point of it now) sign petition kita kena berbincang dulu dengan banyak pihak untuk mencari formula yang betul beb...aku faham kenapa Karyawan adakan petition tu...tapi cadangan yang cuba diketengahkan kurang tepat beb...
before coming up with 90:10 kita kena kaji dulu dimana kekurangan dan kelebihan kita beb (yes abg amy talks like that i.e. beb after almost every sentence)...

Q2. EE : Jadi abg setuju tak kalau saya kata kita kena cerminkan diri kita sendiri dulu?

A2. Amy : (Amy refused to commit himself to this statement of mine of which i understand...so i proceeded with my next question)

Q3. Ok abg rasa kita cukup material tak untuk memenuhi quota 90% yang Karyawan nak tuh?

A2. Amy : Kita memang tak cukup material yang bagus...n saya tak setuju langsung...that's not the right thing to do...tak berapa tepat la beb...Karyawan patut selidik kenapa recording label tidak membuat talent scouting seperti dulu...pengurangan lagu2 indonesia bukan lah jalan penyelesaian nya...tapi gua bukan suruh radio beri kebebasan pada diorang...don't play all la beb...limit them...(you see he is also being balanced about the whole thing 'unlike someone')...

Q4. EE : Apa pendapat abg pula tentang lagu2 indonesia nih?

A4. Amy : Gua tak persoalkan quality lagu2 diorang tetapi kita telah banyak mainkan lagu2 dari sana...tapi the problem pulak kita pun perlu kan lebih lagi local artis yang top top...in our market pendapat saya indi band saja yang ikut the global trend...artis2 kita yang mana masih belum bergerak have to move inline with the market trend and do it quickly...

Q5. EE : Apa pendapat abg pula tentang rock band kita dulu dengan sekarang?

A5. Amy : Sekarang ni banyak unsurfaced underground music i.e. indie bands...jadi kita kena buat sesuatu untuk mereka2 ni...we need to give them the proper exposure and time untuk progress...(fyi we - Suriafm were the first radio to play Hujan n Meet Uncle Hussein songs)...young talent macam ni they need good sound engineer and producer to guide them beb...its a global trend yang kita kena ikut beb...

Q6. EE : Jadi where are our good producers and song writers heading now abg?

A6. Amy : Gua pun hairan kenapa emphasise tidak diberikan pada perkara ini la beb...gua tengok ada setengah2 band tu production pun tak bagus sebab tak gunakan khidmat sound engineer yang bagus...reference of music, sound engineer and producer play a very important role beb!!...

Q7. EE : Abg rasa la kan...album Search mana yang abg paling puas hati sekali?

Q7. Amy : 'Magic' ( he mentioned this immediately without any hesitation)...gua memang puas hati 100% beb...sebab apa? sebab kitorang gunakan good sound engineer...Search gunakan duit kitorang sendiri RM80 ribu (mind u thats alot of RM in those days) untuk record album ni...itu sacrifice yang kitorang buat untuk pasti kan peminat Search puas hati! (by this time i stood up and gave him my Royal Military College salute)...masa tu good recording studio takde kat M'sia...so kitorang buat basic je kat studio Luncai (owned by another legend M Nasir)...mixing kitorang buat kat Melbourne...and mastering kat Festival Records di Sydney...(he told me the famous Aussie band Silverchair also recorded there)...cita2 kitorang Search dulu besar!...so it boils down to how big your dream is?!...

By this time i wanted to rap up my interview with him as it has been over an hour and my favourite watch was already showing 6:45pm...by the looks of things abg amy could go on and on simply because he cares passionately about our industry...so i ask for his opinion what the 4 major relevant parties (Persatuan Artis, Artis themselves, Record Labels and Radio stations) should do to bring back our industry to the glory days (unlike someone)...

The followings are his sincere comments:

1. Persatuan Artis
Persatuan2 artis patut tanya label kenapa they are not coming up with new album regularly...and encourage them to be more aggressive in talent scouting macam dulu dulu...record labels harus mainkan peranan penting dalam hal ni...kalau diorang tak keluarkan album baru yang bagus atau cari talent baru yang bagus macam mana kita nak mengisi 90% tuh beb?...bila industry kita jatuh kita tak boleh blame radio station je...persatuan pun patut encourage record label untuk cari style baru bagaimana untuk promote satu2 album baru yang keluar...jangan la asyik ikut style lama je beb...

2. Artis themselves

Artis pulak kena pikir satu jalan macam mana boleh menarik kan lagi product album mereka...tak boleh harapkan satu hit song sahaja and harap peminat untuk beli album meraka...tapi bila peminat tak beli kita kata peminat tak menyokong industry kita pulak...tak boleh la macam tu beb...concept album kena betul...sekarang ni saya tengok tak ada artis yang boleh hold a concert sebab tak cukup lagu hit dalam satu2 album...so concept kena betul...again how big is your dream beb?

3. Recording Labels

New marketing strategy kena ada beb...cari new talent...buat research on market needs...and come up with good new album...

4. Radio Stations

You all should look and do talent scouting too...kalau label dah neglect this part...radio djs pun boleh cari potential talent kan?...tapi new artis pun kena tau the music business...apa yang you all nak jadi satu hari nanti?...kita nak someone yang macam Madonna (btw Madonna and Freddie Mercury are his idols) who has big dreams!...kita artis we need to know THE GAME...(i was tempted to ask him rockers pandai main batu seremban tak but i didnt)...that is what show business is all about you need to know how to play the game...ini ada setengah2 artis tu MACP pun tak tau apa...

Finally i told the legend to give his last piece and these are his exact words:

"Be bit more patriotic and give my boys more room to show their talent"

I shall rest my case...oh oh i did invite him to join my 'Ultimate Ride' too...








39 comments:

Anonymous said...

wa caya sama lu beb..
sorg COO jd 'wartawan' interview otai rockers kita..

btul gak kata abg amy tu..
apa2 pn kne bwk berbincang dulu sblm apa2 keptusan nk dibuat..

'sepakat membawa berkat'
br smua pihak puas ati.

'hidup' EE..
(eh3..silap) HIDUP INDUSTRI MALAYSIA!!!

peace!!!

Sakura said...

Cayalah Mr EE !! dah macam wartawan plak..Tapi kelakar la tengok pic pakai helmet sambil menaip tu.hahahaha!!
Apapun saya minta maaf la kalau isu ni 'menyerabutkan' Mr EE pulak..
Cuma satu je saya nak cakap...Walapun kat mana kita berada,tahap mana kemampuan kita, masing - masing punya minat tersendiri...
Kita sepatutnya mencontohi Jepun dan Indonesia. Macam mana mereka 'bangga' dengan bahasa, budaya dan kemajuan mereka!!. Tapi di Malaysia, semangat tu dah makin kurang.Bukan salah stesen radio kalau banyak permintaan lagu luar.Semua tu pun pendengar boleh dapat dari Internet.
Pokok pangkalnya bagaimana nak hasilkan 'SUATU YANG BERKUALITI'...tu orang seni kenala fikir2...
Walapun saya & kawan2 misalnya berada di Jepun la,Kami still boleh sokong industri seni Malaysia dengan dengar secara online dan bawa album2 @ DVD filem2artis kegemaran..Secara tak langsung boleh promosi artis Malaysia:-)

Cuma satu je....walaupun maju dan moden macam mana pun.Hebat di negara orang pun...Malaysia tetap di hati...Tapi jangan sampai makan diri sendiri.....

Enche' Adykasyah said...

Che' Em..

I nampak ada satu faktor lagi yang orang jarang nak utarakan.. Terlampau banyak relity tv show yang hasilnya kurang berkualiti. Tak dinafikan, ada yang bagus tapi selebihnya sekadar menyanyikan lagu orang lain dan jadi penghias majalah.. Sad to say.. I hate that kinda environment..

www.snaps.com

Ge-Nyek said...

bro amy looks good.....evergreen and ever-young. phee-wittt!

Anonymous said...

Cayalah AMY...our very own legend.
We are still waiting for SEARCH mega concert. Missed the old days.

Anonymous said...

salam..

mungkin amy lupa yang album magic tu bukan album search, tapi album dia sendiri.., tak apalah, maafkan saja.., sebab dia pun dah berumur setengah abad tu. Anyway, knp tak betulkan saja fakta amy tu, encik Emran?

Anonymous said...

Dear EE,

Saya salute Suria FM yg byk support indie band, menjadi stesen radio pertama yg memainkan lagu hujan & meet uncle husein. suria jugaklah yg byk main lagu noryn aziz, atilia, cheryl samad, ramlah ram wpun radio lain tak sudi. suria jugak takde favouritsm - lagu pemenang OIAM ke AF ke seme belasah wpun radio pesaing tak nak main lagu product stesen tv competitor. tp itu dulu EE, sekarang ni suria dah mcm sinar!!! mana lagu2 baru & berkualiti??? -
en xxoooxx

Engku Emran said...

hi enxxoooxx...tq fr ur compliments...we do play new artists songs eg nubhan, stacy, ery putra, aizat n many more...from ur last comment i think i know who u r... ;)

Anonymous said...

amy nampak muda belia (",)

Edzlin said...

hi mr emran. wah, kalah wartawan. that's sastified me enough. hope now karyawan knows what they're doing.

Intan said...

we the listeners senang je:good music we ONN, Bad music, we OFF.Bottom line is,why cant our people (whole team),produce good quality music?I used to favour many local songs (dont give a damn who sings them long as its melodious to my ears).Now, I am lost.BUT,my sensitive ears tend to flapped excitedly when indons songs(some)are being played,who can blame me?

Anonymous said...

Bro, I rasa bukan saja stesen radio patut lebih banyak putar lagu tempatan, tapi producer drama, filem dan iklan tempatan sangat patut jadikan lagu artis Malaysia sebagai lagu tema hasil karya mereka.

Dalam masa yang sama artis/recording label pun patut approach producer ni utk menyumbangkan lagu mereka. Kalau duduk je ape pun tak jadi kan?

Anonymous said...

Salam.

Which radio station will your listeners tune in if all radio stations agree on that 90:10 proposal? because if we dont tune to ERA we will be tuning at Suria if not Suria we will be at HOT and so on. So what i am trying to say is, if all radio stations agree on that 90:10 formula, i strongly believe that you wont be loosing your listeners... simple because there will be no difference between Hot, Suria, Era, etc... unless if others refuse but only Suria agree on the 90:10.

Please give it a shot, try la... why not? You might end up getting more listeners than what you have now. All the bess.

:)

Intan said...

M'sia ada terlalu ramai pendatang asing,and,radio station cuma ambil peluang drp situasi tersebut..Business beb.Its a win win situation.Public should understand.
anyway,thanks EE,for giving us the full and detailed coverages of what I think the longest snips u ever written in yr blog.Care to write a book?

Enche' Adykasyah said...

To describe competitivenes in business please refer to below..

One of the listed thread in Porter's Forces Model (There are 5 forces by Michael Porter) is the availabilitity of replacement product or services.

If the radio stations operators agree to the 90:10, it will not merely affect us as listener.

We have alternative medium, i.e: mp3/mp4 player are now cheap and internet access are available to public and free mp3 are always available.

This actually need more studies. Don't be like 'someone' who declared 'this and that' and now trying hard to reduced it to win peoples heart.

Sad to say, Malaysian should be more critical when doing decisions.

Bukan setakat melepaskan batuk ditangga..

Rumah dah siap, pahat masih berbunyi..

Hmm.. Think about it..

Hola!

www.snaps.com

Anonymous said...

EE,
bagus juga u interview amy, our own legendary rocker, tapi kalau boleh interview juga rocker baru naik atau yg ada potensi nak naik terutama kali group indie,anyway walaupun sinar tak bersiaran di Sarawak,saya selalu mendengar melalui laman web. Cuma satu soalan kepada ee, kenapa ada siaran Sinar di seluruh negara kecuali Sarawak? Sarawak tak best ke?Ada rancangan nak perluaskan siaran Sinar ke Sarawak?Kalau ada bila tu?
Bob From Kuching

Anonymous said...

Salam kazen Kumerangg...

Kalau lu ambik gambar dgn artis lain.. wa tak kesah beb... tapi dgn brader peweett ni.. wa jeles giler.. Kamceng giler plak tu.. Send him my regards next time u meet him. Like u, he is also my idol since his glory days (lu ingat tak dulu bilik wa penuh dengan poster mamat ni dengan geng2 dia.. ha..ha.. those were the days..)

Anyway, back 2 the issue.. for me, frankly i’m quite fed up with all the Indonesian songs already.. It was ok during the SO7, GIGI, DEWA, KRIS DAYANTI time... but now they all sounded the same. Dont know who is who... Eveen now Aizat pun nak tiru style diaorang.. (Cant really blame him, cari makan maa.. )

I think Malaysian band nowdays pun ok what.. like what Brader Amy said, give them exposure & guidance... What YOU can do 4 them is EXPOSURE. Is there any restriction for a radio station 2 play unknown indie bands aa? Maybe start a new segment 4 this indie band @ Suria. U got ur Indonesian segment, why not a slot 4 our local indie bands?? Suruh laa diaorang antar demo... Yg dah fames 2 takyah laa.. bagi can yg unknown.. amacam ?? Boleh menjadi nii.... Surely ramai yg respond nye.. Since recording co. tak layan depa ni, might as well skip them, straight 2 the radio station... Just my 2 cents..

P/s: My fav. Search album... Fenomena.. At that time they were troubled with their recording label, so bertahun hilang, sekali keluar Fenomena.... peeergghh.. goosebumpss...

Engku Emran said...

yo kazeng kumael...hahaha gd to finally see u leaving me a comment...nway let me know when u wanna go yah...

Engku Emran said...

hi bob from kuching...mind u its suria not sinar...nway tq for being a listener of ours...gd to know that u r aware too that suria is not reachable in sarawak...fyi we are not permitted to transmit there as stated in our license condition...y? beats me too...nway keep tuning in bro!...

Engku Emran said...

hi sakura...no worries...u didnt menyerabut me...its good that u brought it up so i can explain to all...

Engku Emran said...

hi peminat erra soal hati...aren't u forgetting theres internet where u can listen to other radio arnd the globe? our radio industry will suffer if listeners move to foreign online radio to get what they want...nevertheless i appreciate ur concern...tq

Engku Emran said...

hi intan...yes that has always been my dream...

Engku Emran said...

hi all...tq fr all ur concern n support...we are not budging...u guys are our listeners n we want to gv u only the best...

Anonymous said...

Engku, may I suggest something about the layout of your blog? Well, even before you answer "Yes" or "No", I'll suggest it anyway:-)

Can you please consider making the main page lighter to download? There's no real problem with pictures - actually the ones you include here (and elsewhere) are all pertinent and help to make your posts even better.

However, please consider that some of us here are not with broadband. With me, I'm using Celcom `Broadband', but am only getting GPRS 53Kbps speed. That's about the same as a Tmnet or Jaring dial-up (with the exception that Celcom Broadband is fixed-rate).

I love to read your blog (for reasons I had mentioned in an earlier comment), and try to come here every day. However, it's a bit exasperating when I have to wait and wait as the page s l o w l y renders.

As such, may I suggest that the main page carries only the latest if it is graphics-heavy (like this one); while the previous posts are put on another page, with the link given below and/or on the left. This way, it will be a breeze for everyone, no matter what Internet connection speed they have.

Just a suggestion, given in good faith and spirit...

Anonymous said...

sorry bro u are correct,it should be suria and not sinar,I will continue to give my fullest support if suria play less Indonesian song and more Malaysian song especially Indie group and even heavy metal group from Malaysia, we have many world class heavy metal group, please give them a respect that they deserved in your station.Keep up the good work EE
Bob From Kuching

Engku Emran said...

hi bob from kuching...no worries...cheers!

Engku Emran said...

hi mart anon...appreciate ur honest feedback...and i welcome such ones so pls dont feel bad ok...to be honest im still a virgin when it comes to blogging ni...even the pics u see are uploaded by my IT guy at the office...but hey i will bring this up to him 1st thing tmrw morning k n will sort it out for you...sori for the inconvenience...i only want the best for my riders...cheers again mart anon!...

Engku Emran said...

hi bob from kuching...i forgot to also mention that suria plays 70% local, 15% english and 15% indonesian songs...so lets say if in an hour we play 10 songs kan, 7 of those are our home grown talent and the balance foreign...

@rep said...

intan - ONN?

let muzik.fm jer lah yg play lagu2 local.

Unknown said...

Hahahaha....With its huge market .. artis-artis dan industri musik Indonesia tidak terlalu tergantung kepada pasar musik Malaysia ...

They can grow with or without us ...

Anonymous said...

"...to be honest im still a virgin when it comes to blogging ni...

HAHA! You have a great sense of humour, coming up with that line! And very honest too. Don't worry; in the meantime, I'll cope despite my slow connection.

I've now included your posts (and the comments here) in my RSS feed. That's because I'm starting to like this blog so much. And I have the feeling that yours will be among the top - if not Number One - *soon* when it comes to local entertainment blogs. Just mark my words on this.

I'm extremely pleased with how you've received comments and responded to them. Mine about suggestions on reducing the downloading time is quite harmless, of course. But someone overly sensitive might somehow feel slighted. Might respond with:

"If you feel it's a problem, then just don't come here. I'm writing this for free, and I'm not forcing anyone to come here and read my blog...":-)

But it's the way you have written the posts, plus your response to comments that might be contentious, that I'm most impressed with. That's especially so with the current CRM/Karyawan issue.

Quite a few had commented that you "...mengalahkan wartawan"; which is very true. And the material that you have posted here is excellent!

Your talents and personality shine, Engku; and I'm not being a kaki bodek and flatterer for I have nothing to gain.

I'm very happy that you seem to be the person that you are. Erra Fazira, for obvious reasons, is someone who does not lack suitors ... is someone who is mature and most probably has the wisdom.And she chooses you. She appears to have made the right choice:-)

I hope Allah will bless your union with her, for you are really one deserving fellow. I'm older than you, but I'm learning a lot here.

[BTW I hope to contact you in private by email because I've thought of something that might benefit everyone. Right now, about the CRM-Karyawan thing. And potentially more in the future, Insyaallah. Can't say them here at a semi-public forum. I'm trying to find out how I can write to you via e-mail. My address is cendana287ATgmail.com You can delete this last part before publishing my comment above; if you want to.]

muteaudio said...

Bro,
From what I see, it takes 2 to tango. And to make things workable or should I say both parties to get what they want, both of you have to work together. The artist need to bring up their qualities and the station need to give more space to them. But then again, both 'quality' and 'space' issues are also contentious. How much space and quality needed rite? And that only listeners can answer.

I think its best to go to when/where it all started. At that time when the influx started, it was something new and everyone like it but unfortunately the industry was a bit slow catching the change in demand. They thought it'll be like dangdut, it'll drift away as fast as it enters the scene.

When the local music scene reliased the indonesian phenomenon is not going away, they started to change. But by then, the indo nesian scene has stamped their mark. When the local scene requested for space some stations were a bit errr..negative about it. In the end we come to this situation.

I at one point of time were a bit sick when the local scene keep on dishing out "rock mendayu-dayu" (where most of the time being sung by bands that start with letter 'S', but not Search), and when the Indonesian band arrived, I started not to fall asleep behind the wheel.

Now the local scene is changing. There are better bands and music.

Youi know what? Later it'll be the TV industry. More and more Indonesian sinetron are coming in when we keep on giving "kisah famili berebut harta", "korporat Melayu pakai suit tengahari buta", "kisah rumah tangga" or "hasad dengki".

Anyway good luck!

Engku Emran said...

hi mart anon...u r juz too kind wt ur words...nway u can reach me at my public email addy coo@suriafm.com.my...send me an email thereafter will lead u to my private one...

Intan said...

dear arep.thanx 4 highlighting my spelling error .did it on purpose actually.sukak sukak only.

Anonymous said...

@sakura
Mujur EE kata dia "tak serabut"- kalau tidak... :-)

Sebenarnya, saya/kami nak ucap Terima Kasih kepada saudari/puan (saya kira salah satu kerana nama ni biasanya perempuan) kerana membangkitkan benda ni di sini. Paling-paling tidak, ramai orang lain telah dapat tahu dengan lebih mendalam.

Dan tak kurang pentingnya, kita semua telah dapat dengar dari the horse's mouth secara DIRECT ... dari EE sendiri (atas nama COO SuriaFM dan vice-president CRM); Amy Search (artis); Saharudin Musthafa (media).

Jadi, apa yang sakura initiate tu telah mendatangkan effects yang baik untuk kita semua.

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Engku.
I had found that e-mail address at suriaFM.com after sending my previous comment, but had hesitated to use it because "it looked SO official" ... takut nanti Engku kata "Malaun mana yang hantar e-mail gini ke official address aku!"

I'll write in after I'm satisfied with the draft of my e-mail. And this will only come after I've done my own research (had read your interview with Saharudin Musthafa) and think things through. I don't want to waste your time unnecessarily, knowing how busy you are.

Engku Emran said...

hi en xxooxx...i didnt say ur in radio or ex...but like i said i know who u are...have read ur biased emails to my staff...tq fr that we cannot please every1...sorry mate...

ketam said...

Nak semua lagu tempatan?? maka suruh lah PERSATUAN KARYAWAN dan semua PERSATUAN mUZIK dan ARTIS minta MENTERI PENERANGAN supaya semua STESEN RADIO RTM di SELURUH NEGARA mainkan lagu ARTIS TEMPATAN SAHAJA..jgn langsung benarkan mainkan lagu dari luar termasuk lagu dari AMERIKA.

Kepada STESEN RADIO SWASTA pula lets them decide if local songs have THE QUALITY then i believe they will play it until kita dalam tido pun boleh dengar ahaks..

Intan said...

Sape cakap klu kita selalu dengar lagu yg tak sedap (lagu2 yg kononnye dianaktirikan olih stesyen radio swasta) ,lambatlaun kita akan suka gak? Can u imagine,bile TERdengar lagu yg tak mesra telinga tu ,kita masih nak buang masa kita yg precious dan limited ni,dgn terus menerus mendengarnya?Logic ke?I dont think so! Support Ketam 101%.