At the risk of sounding preachy, here's my two Sens worth on the whole issue yang dibangkitkan Amy Search mengenai lagu Indonesian yang membanjiri radio tempatan.
First things first, actually, I felt like blogging about this, because this is my personal view, and secondly because I think a lot of people don't consider beberapa fakta penting dalam menentukan, what's actually killing our music industry.
Malam tadi, patutnya ada dua event nak gi. Amik ko.. dua buka puasa. Pening ok. Planning nak abihkan berbuka puasa ngan Ahmad Dhani kat Berjaya Times Square Hotel secepat mungkin, then move on to PWTC for event Recording Industry of Malaysia lak.... tapi tak sempat.
So instead, got some time to speak to Dhani, dari kumpulan Dewa 19 (one of the best Indo rock bands around, and my personal fave after Samsons and Sheila On 7). Dia ni cool.. relax je. Tanya lar soalan apa, dia nih maintain jerk... kalao you're being honest and transparent in your questions, he takes it all.
Also spoke to Pak Tam (Rostam dari Era) and sevral other people including Tang there to get some opinions, and generally agreed with them.
Without putting down anyone - here are my debates on several points Amy raised, which I think should be thought of before we embark on a witch hunt.
*GLOBALISATION - In this day and age, music, of all things, which transcends boundaries of race and religion, or even geographical measures, is much the only thing left untouched by prejudice. So while the world is opening up... why are we shutting ourselves?
*SERUMPUN - Orang selalu cakap, serumpun... baik Indonesia atau Malaysia... so why differenciate. It's the same language, with a little difference here and there. Why target their releases specifically? Sebab same market?
*FANS - Amy kata bukan soal peminat nak dengar, tu alasan stesen radio. In fact, ada lak yang katakan, kalao stesen radio pasang lagu tak sedap pon, leh jadik sedap dengar. Erm... aku masih tak minat lagu Lips, or New Boyz... and honestly,don't ever disrespect the fans. They HAVE the right to choose. If people were requesting your song, it would be played. A station hardly wants to lose fans by ignoring lagu lagu diminta kan?
*BUSINESS - That's what it is. Private radio stations pun cari makan. Nak ramai pendengar, so they have statistics to boast to advertisers who pump in money. It's not a charitable organisation to help you just cause you feel you're entitled to it.
*SPOONFED - Kalao music ko dah sedap, campak ke mana pun orang leh hargai. So why afraid of competition? Kenapa nak ada quota system pelbagai? Fans have disposable income for things they want. If you're in the list, they'll still buy you, even if they have an Indo CD in their list.
ROYALTIES - Soal duit kuar negara sampai berjuta Ringgit kerana lagu Indonesian... pelik... kenapa takde orang soalkan duit kuar negara akibat mainkan lagu omputeh main tak abih abih? Ke Pussycats Dolls pun Malaysian???
Why just Malay songs lak Vested interest? Besides, didn't Amy do a cover of an Indonesian song baru baru ni? So... kalao nak ikutkan... how are radio stations supposed to judge? Camna lak bila Siti Nurhaliza nyanyi lagu komposer Indonesian? Is that Indonesian or Malaysian? Anuar? Kalao nak ikut composer, bukan ke artis cam The Lima yang nyanyi lagu KRU untung atas our resources gak? So why discriminate in the first place?
*BLURRED VISION - Kalao nak sangat syarat wajib putar, then why not impose the same conditions on English stations like Hitz and Fly FM? Buat apa nak bagi duit kat 50 Cent ke Pussycat Dolls ke haper... we have a lot of local English talent yang can't get on radio. So again... why discriminate. Nak tolong industri konon... tolong bebetol.
*UNDERSTANDING - Slalu artis kita bising kata artis Indo dominate sini but they can't break it in the Indonesian market. Understand this.
Nak promo album kat Malaysia, ko kalao bab radio, interview dalam 10 biji radio station da enough cover satu negara nak dengar. Kalao kat Indonesia, that's not even enough to cover Jakarta, let alone the rest of the country.
Ramai artis kita ada album dipasarkan kat Indonesia, tapi takde sambutan. Analyse dulu sebab sebabnya... kalao takde promosi, tak sanggup take time off nak promo tour sana berbulan and do a million interviews and photoshoots for a nation which has more than 27 million people... camna nak laku??? So jangan salahkan orang lain kalao malas.
*PATRIOTISM - It's not fair to use the terms 'Merdeka' and patriotism kalao nak fight issue camni. Kalao camni, geledah la orang yang laungkan semua tuh... check make sure semua ko pakai tuh Made In Malaysia. Cmon... being patriotic is definitely something I'm all for... but let's not start burning books here.
*POLITICAL - Kenapa issue camni nak ada political inteference? Kalao nak sangat tolong industri muzik, dah bertahun orang mintak tolong. Piracy for one... how many pirates have been charged in court? What percentage do they form of the total pool of losses dihadapi industri kami? Kenapa takde orang nak cadangkan dana tuk local recording companies to invest in more local talent? Industri filem kan ada... Kenapa takde insentif diberikan for outfits yang generate local talent. So many issues to fight, and they pick the most 'glamorous' nak masuk suratkhabar... adoi!
*GENRE - perasan tak.. selalu isu camni sentuh bab rock Indo je. Erm... Artis solo takde masaalah. In Malaysia itself, Siti Nurhaliza anytime ramai agik peminat dari Kris Dayanti. Sebagus Marcell ke Glenn pun, we have Anuar Zain!
Kenapa band rock je terasa sangat - can't Search be better than Peterpan or Samsons? If they are... then why not prove it?
*RULES - Katakan ada syarat wajib putar, yakin ke lagu ko laku ngan peminat? Ke tak kisah pun album jual ke tak kalao peminat rasa azab, sebab janji dapat duit royalty from MACP? Don't cheat the hard earned money of people.
*EMOTIONS - Ada yang mengatakan radio swasta ni lebih teruk dari lanun cetak rompak kerana apa meka wat dalam mainkan lagu Indo, lebih membunuh muzik tempatan. Hello??? Can I have statistics and figures please? Again.. ko ingat kalao lagu ko kalao tak sedap diputarkan, ada nak minat ke?
*SALES - And why target radio? How much of a factor is radio in promoting sales? I think even local artistes know, kalao lagu meletup kat radio pun tak semestinya album laku. So again... what's your beef? Everyone knows the exposure is good for awareness of the product, tapi honestly.. radio becomes overrated in times where the Internet is more important in determining which CD listeners buy.
*GROWTH - It's time our artistes realise, we have to grow. Aku membesar ngan rock kapak, rock leleh of the late 80s and 90s. Febians, Ekamatra, BPR... you name 'em, I love 'em. But that was 20 years ago!!!! Takkan artis kita tanak kembang, maju ke depan? Music is not limited, but our artists limit themselves. Why?
Dengar lagu rock Melayu skang... compare ngan lagu rock 10 ke 20 years ago. How much different is it?
Kalao dulu, memang lar, album Fenomena Search was iconic, even for the Indonesians, But they grew. By leaps and bounds. Jangan salahkan orang lain kerana meka improve themselves. It's time to do the same.
As legendary as Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath or KISS were in the history of rock, meka wat album hari ni pun tak sepower bands of today. Kalao da zaman berlalu, jangan lak marah peminat yang abihkan wang Ringgit meka lak atas apa meka pilih, when it's not you they choose.
*FAIRPLAY - Amy should be one to talk, since he was big in Indonesia with Search in the late 80s, early 90s. Skang orang mai sini, ko mintak kurangkan exposure lak. Erm...
Banyak lagi points aku nak raise, but malas. Because no one's going to bother to take notice and understand why MUSIC IS WITHOUT BOUNDARIES. Stop using the excuse of patriotism. Not everyone drives a Proton (I proudly drive a Wira).
Aku paham keluhan Amy, and there is some truth. But good music is just that. I understand even substandard Indo rock acts (for me like Kerispatih yang biasa biasa aja) get attention simply because they're Indonesian, but hey... sabar ler. It's a trend. A fad.
Every music market is affected by it. All the time. Dulu zaman Fiona, semua orang abaikan rock nak layan KRU, 4U2C, Res2 MsTeens, Feminin, Nico Freshies, Krash Kozz dan sebagainya.
And remember the dangdut revolution??? Masa tu album dangdut je laku. And how about time Raihan muncul? Nasyid je menjadi staple.
So trends and fads will happen.
Like late 80s rock was the main thing. Then it dies towards the mid 90s because of saturated rock kapak. Then into the 2000s it was back to solo female acts.
Reality is... like a producer once told me.
If you want to sell, make music people want to hear. If you want credibility, go record yourself on a tape player, and listen to it on your headphones, cause no one else may be bothered about how you sound, or what you have to say.
To Amy and everyone else - happy arguing about the issue. Like Dhani said it best - apapon orang nak cakap, apapon orang nak buat - the fans are smarter than you give them credit for and know who to spend money on.
I'm still going to be buying my Samsons and Sheila On 7s and Dewas, even if people say I'm unpatriotic! Because I know I also like my Siti Nurhaliza, Ning Baizura, Dayang Nurfaizah, Nikki and so many more local artists as much as I like Smashing Pumpkins, Madonna and whatever other acts, no matter where they come from.
By the way, kalao Amy berani sangat bersuara, sebut lah station mana yang mainkan banyak sangat lagu Indo.. sebab not every station does that.
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