第12届新加坡词曲版权协会颁奖典礼
新加坡词曲版权协会总裁兼董事及国际艺创家联会亚太地区主席，林建鸿博士中文致词
亲爱的会员和朋友们:
晚上好。谢谢你们抽空前来参加今晚的颁奖典礼。我很高兴能在这里向你们汇报协会在去年所取得的好成绩。
我们去年成功地征收了接近1千200万元的版税，再一次交出了漂亮的成绩单！值得高兴的是，本地音乐不仅在本地市场征得了更高的版税，在海外市场的税收更是猛涨了五十个百分点。
亚太区的音乐市场继续面对许多艰难的挑战，比如互联网上的猖狂盗版行为，音乐使用者拒绝缴付版税等问题。即使如此，我们还是见到了一线曙光。电话铃声、接驳铃声以及下载到手机的歌曲，这些所谓的手机音乐的广泛使用，刺激了整个市场。因此，尽管唱片销量直线下滑，整个音乐市场的总收益仍旧取得了增长。实际上，在韩国，手机与互联网的音乐销售额已经超过了传统唱片的销售额。印度今年预计也将会有同样的情况。相信这股趋势在亚洲将迅速蔓延开来。因此，我要在这里呼吁音乐出版商，尤其是本地的独立版权公司，就这股趋势，重新探讨运作模式，做出适当的调整。
我曾经说过很多次，本地的市场太小了。所以，本地的音乐业者要比外国公司更积极的开拓海外市场。随着中国和印度的经济起飞，亚洲经济迅速扩张，本区域的消费者对音乐的需求量将会越来越大。因此，我们应该着重于开拓具潜力的区域市场。我们协会将与国家艺术理事会和媒体发展管理局合作，协助本地公司进军这些市场。我们在今年上半年带领一些本地公司参加了在法国和香港的音乐展。我们也组团到越南去考察。参与的公司也对那次考察感到满意。我希望接下来会有更多公司参与我们的活动，借着这些机会扩展海外的业务。
我们这次的越南之行受益不浅。其中，最令我们惊叹的是韩国音乐在当地的普及度。著名韩国艺人星Rain在越南开了一连两晚的演唱会。虽然票价不菲，但每晚仍吸引了1万名观众。由此可见，越南的市场潜力不容忽视。退一步想，韩国能够跨越语言和文化的障碍，成功进军越南，那我们或许应该检讨，我们到底忽略了什么，为什么会被韩国抢先一步？
协会在过去主办新谣节，虽然成功地吸引了不少人参加，但入围决赛的参赛者却无法在音乐界大展拳脚。因此，协会决定今年停办新谣节。目前，我们正与本地电视台商讨是否能主办一个节目来发掘优秀的音乐人，同时提升国人对本地创作的欣赏和支持。
我日前与马来会员商谈，希望他们能多与其他种族的音乐人合作，共同创作能外销到亚洲各国的新加坡音乐。我在这里也呼吁华族会员，不要一味地附和台湾的创作潮流。我们的作品必须有所区别。我们应该善用我们多元种族的文化特点，创作出富本地特色的音乐作品，加强市场竞争力。就如”韩流”席卷亚洲一样，希望有一天，我们的”新光”也能照耀整个亚洲市场！
谢谢。
English Translation
Dear Members and Friends,
We did well once again last year with our total income approaching $12 million mark. Royalty collections for local musical works have also gone up in the local market. The additional good news this year is that income from overseas markets, compared with last year, has risen by almost 50%.
The music industry in the Asia Pacific region continues to face with tough challenges, like internet piracy and non-compliance by music users to pay royalties. However, there is a silver lining on the horizon. Despite the declining physical music sales, the overall music sales have gone up, driven mainly by mobile music. Mobile music refers to ringtones, ringback tones, full tracks delivered to a mobile phone. In fact, in South Korea and to be followed by India this year, mobile together with online music sales will exceed that of physical music. I therefore urge all music publishers, especially our local independent publishers, to review their existing business models to help facilitate this rapid growth in Asia.
I have repeated this theme a number of times. Given a very small domestic market, our music companies, more than any other in the other countries, need to venture abroad to exploit the tremendous market potential in the region. The consumer demand for music will grow significantly especially in expanding Asian economies, powered by that of India and China. COMPASS is collaborating with the government agencies, the National Arts Council and Media Development Authority, to help local companies venture overseas. In the first half of this year, we, together with local companies, have participated in MIDEM Music Fair in Cannes in February, and the Hong Kong Music Fair in March. We have also led a delegation to Vietnam to explore market opportunities. The feedback from participating companies has been favourable. I therefore hope more local companies can make use of these available opportunities to get connected overseas and expand their businesses.
During our trip to Vietnam, among the many things we learnt, was the stunning realisation of the popularity of Korean music. A Korean star, by the name Rain, could easily command an audience of 10,000 people for each of the two nights of concert. Ticket prices did not come cheaper either. It would therefore be prudent not to dismiss the Vietnamese market. If the Koreans can do it, overcoming the language and cultural barrier, we Singaporeans should think hard why we lost out.
COMPASS has decided to stop organising the Xin Yao Festival this year. While it was successful in attracting submissions, none of the finalists have made any inroads professionally. We are in discussion with one of the local TV stations on a possible competition series to identify young song writing talents and at the same time promote the appreciation of local compositions.
I have just spoken to our Malay members, urging them to collaborate more with other ethnic groups to create original Singaporean music that could be marketed across Asia. I similarly urge our Chinese members to do likewise. We need to differentiate our cultural products, through leveraging our cultural diversity, to compete more effectively. We should not merely follow the popular trend in Taiwan. Hopefully one day we can, like the “Korean wave”, create the “Singapore wave”, sweeping across the vast markets in Asia.
I wish everyone a prosperous year ahead.
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