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19th COMPASS ANNUAL
AWARDS PRESENTATION, 2014
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With the ending of the year, we are once again excited
to invite members and valued guests to the annual COMPASS Awards. This
year, it will be held at Resorts World Sentosa
(RWS) on 28th September 2014 in the Compass Central West Ballroom from
6pm onwards. The COMPASS Awards, in its 19th year is an
annual event to recognize and honour local
songwriters, and we hope, to inspire and encourage the use of local
music. ¡Þ
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COLLABORATION BETWEEN COMPASS AND NATIONAL LIBRARY BOARD
(NLB)
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as with most things, the
passing of time will erode the memory of songs and events which
have helped shaped the Singapore we know today. Without an archive of
our unique heritage, those in the present will not have access to the
past, in order to shape the future.
With this in mind, the National Library Board (NLB) has
collaborated with COMPASS on MusicSG.
This is a digital music archive which aims
to preserve and raise awareness of Singapore music
as well as provide resources for research and discovery.
NLB will be celebrating the re-launch of the website, with
new content and features in late September 2014. There will also be a
free public concert on 26 September 2014, at the Plaza of the National
Library Building, from 6.15pm onwards, featuring local artistes, Jack
and Rai, The Analog Girl, Shigga Shay and
Nicodemus Lee. Come join in for a night of music and mayhem!
Meanwhile, listen to your favourite
local music, view the lyrics, explore the scores and read about the
musicians, available on MusicSG, Singapore's one stop
digital music archive by the National Library Board. Visit http://music.nl.sg today!
For members with wholly owned works and are interested in
placing them in archival for our heritage, feel free to contact us: membership@compass.org.sg ¡Þ
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SINGAPORE RADIO QUOTA FOR LOCAL SONGS
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The
question of whether there should be a quota for local content has
proven to be a controversial one. Consensus is difficult to reach on
the need, rationale and method of implementing a quota system.
One obvious objective is to ensure that local music is being
promoted. This will strengthen our cultural identity and help grow the
local music sector. Local English-language music, in particular is
overwhelmed by the Anglo-American music backed by multimillion-dollar
marketing blitzes of international labels.
The Government¡¯s position is that it will not impose a quota
for local music on radio because there is not a strong library of
broadcast-quality local music.
Our survey shows that there is no significant improvement in
broadcasting lore local music.
Local artistes are not inferior in music writing and do
produce good recordings. Many Singaporeans are investing in music
education. We have music arrangers and producers who can compete with
the best in the region.
There are also a growing number of emerging independent
artistes doing well. For example, The Sam Willows achieved over 500,000
views on their Youtube page; Daphne Khoo,
based in New York did a Starbucks tour in Singapore recently, with a
North America tour in the pipeline; Terry Lee, a Singapore-based
producer, songwriter and rapper, has created hits for stars such as
Coco Lee, Evonne Hsu and Energy.
It is clearly a chicken-and-egg situation. If our radio
stations provide more opportunities for local artistes, especially
emerging ones, it will spur more music production.
The landscape has changed drastically in recent years,
especially with the proliferation of online music services.
It is timely to form an official committee with
representations from various stakeholders to relook the proposal with
an open mind. Learning the lessons of other countries that have
implemented such a quota will be useful.
After all, radio frequencies are public property and should
be leveraged for the best interests of the nation.
Dr. Edmund Lam
CEO & Director
COMPASS
(Further Reading: The Straits
Times LIFE!, Saturday, April 12, 2014,
http://stcommunities.straitstimes.com/music/2014/04/10/there-enough-good-local-music-fill-quota-radio-yes-say-industry-folk
AND
http://stcommunities.straitstimes.com/tv/2014/04/04/viewpoint-set-aside-airtime-local-english-music-and-films)
Sarah Cheng De-Winne: Let Our
Voices Be Heard
http://sarahchengdewinne.com/blog/2014/04/21/let-our-voices-be-heard-the-case-for-local-music-quotas-on-local-radio/ ¡Þ
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COMPASS MEMBER AUDIO
FILES
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In order to improve our
administration processes and accuracy, we are embarking in an ongoing
exercise to collate members¡¯ work registrations, by also requesting for
a copy of the work in either original CD or as an audio MP3 files. For unpublished works, good
quality demo CDs / MP3 files are also acceptable. ¡Þ
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ELECTRONIC PAYMENT vs
TRADITIONAL CHEQUES
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In order to reduce the stress
and loss of post-mailed cheques, we will be
progressively migrating from cheque issuance
for royalty payments, to internet bank transfers direct into members'
accounts instead.
Hence, we will be progressively updating member
records so that eventually, there will no longer be a need for members
to receive their royalty cheques in the mail
and then find the time to deposit the physical cheque
into their bank account ¡Þ
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WORLD IP DAY
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More than
100 countries across the globe celebrate the World Intellectual
Property Day (also known as World IP Day) on April 26 every year. The
celebration involves various creative and eye-catching activities to
create awareness, allowing the general public to have a better
understanding of IP. It also aids in bringing IP to a closer level amongst
the users, the innovators and the creators.
This year, Singapore celebrated World IP Day at Bugis, organised by the
Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS), it is an event which
COMPASS strongly supports. Highlights for the evening showcasing local
artistes with their original musical compositions included heavy
weights like Taufik Batisah,
Jack & Rai, The Sam Willows, MICappella
and talented pianist Adelyn Koh from Singapore Association of the
Visually Handicapped (SAVH), performing on stage.
IPOS, together with Ocean Butterflies Music, also provided
free, tailored songwriting courses for Adelyn, who was born with a rare
congenital eye disease to fulfill her music dreams. The Singapore
Government is working towards ratifying the Marrakesh Treaty to open
more access to copyrighted materials for persons with reading
disabilities, and IPOS decided to involve SAVH in this World IP Day
Celebration to underscore the importance of IP for this community. IPOS
believes that when given the right resources, persons with reading
disabilities can be IP creators too!
The evening celebration came to an end with a performance by
YouTube-fame Jason Chen, also a singer-songwriter with Singapore¡¯s
first ever crowded-sourced-song titled ¡°I Got You¡±.
The event was warmly received and Bugis
was packed to the rafters with teens and young adults.
We look forward to World IP Day
2015 with even more original and creative musical compositions. ¡Þ
 
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AMENDMENTS TO THE COPYRIGHT ACT
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The Ministry of Law launched a
public consultation on proposed amendments to the Copyright Act, in
April 2014. This proposal, if implemented, is an initiative to equip
rights holders with more control over their intellectual property. It
enables rights holders and its direct licensees, an avenue via the
Courts for injunctions to prevent access to sites which ¡°clearly and blatantly infringe
copyright¡±. Popular sites such as Google and YouTube will not be
affected with this implementation if it happens.
With the previous fiasco
involving ISPs and users downloading pirated content, this seems like a
more clean-cut and efficient method for rights holders to regain some
control of stolen property without
having to involve ISPs unnecessarily.
The market it seems, has
mixed feelings where some have suggested a price reduction of copyright
material to stop piracy whilst others are commenting tongue-in-cheek
that this could be another form of control wrested away from users.
Perhaps more attention should
be focused on the topic at hand, which is enabling right holders with
the option of recourse should their material be exploited without prior
permission. After all, if a theft has occurred in our personal homes,
we can always make a report to the police. Similarly, should such a theft
befall rights holders, the recourse should be as easily available as
well.
It is never easy balancing
intellectual property at what is deemed to be a ¡®reasonable price¡¯
along with the need to respect copyright. Truly though, it is time for
this relatively developed nation to bring respect of intellectual
property to the forefront, rather than as an afterthought.
Find out more here:
http://www.mlaw.gov.sg/content/minlaw/en/news/press-releases/public-consultation-on-proposed-amendments-to-copyright-act.html ¡Þ
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