ANNUAL ADDRESS BY DR EDMUND LAM
CEO & DIRECTOR / COMPASS & CHAIRMAN/ CISAC (ASIA PACIFIC)
AT COMPASS AWARDS 2007 CEREMONY
AT SWISSOTEL THE STAMFORD SINGAPORE ON SUNDAY 20 May 2007
Ladies and gentlemen, a very good evening. On behalf of the Chairman and the Board of Directors of COMPASS, I extend our warmest welcome to our distinguished guest-of-honour, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, and Second Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, distinguished guests, members of the HIP alliance, COMPASS members and friends. As per normal, I will speak shortly in Malay and Chinese on specific issues before I revert to English.
There is a general impression that Singaporeans lack creativity. As such, it always amazes me as our family size kept growing – exceeding a milestone of 1000 members at end of last year. With the ever increasing number of young members joining us as composers and lyricists with published compositions, we can at least partially dispel the notion that creativity is in short supply among young Singaporeans.
With a harmonious and expanded membership coupled with a dedicated Board of Directors and a team of competent staff, our royalty collections have crossed the $11M mark to nearly $12M last year. This is slightly more than 13% growth over previous year. Our cost-to-income ratio remained at a very competitive rate of 16%. Another piece of good news is that income earned for members from overseas markets through COMPASS has doubled that of previous year.
As a music industry, we are still a long way off from reaping the benefits of the huge markets in Asia. We urge our music companies and members to persevere, establish presence in various Asian markets, and ride out the challenges posed by sometimes difficult but improving IP (Intellectual Property) environment in some of these countries.
With very generous financial support from the government agencies (IE Enterprise, Media Development Authority, National Arts Council) COMPASS has participated in two major music fairs in the first half of this year – MIDEM in Cannes in January and Hong Kong Music Fair in March. We have also led a delegation to Vietnam in March to explore new business opportunities. On behalf of our industry, I would like to express our deepest appreciation and thanks to these government agencies for both the financial and morale support. Feedback from participating companies in last year’s MIDEM has indicated that collectively they generated business deals close to $10 million. We are now in discussion with NAC and MDA on the possibility of a mini-showcase featuring some of our best local acts in next year’s fair. So I would urge more members to join these overseas activities specially organized for you.
COMPASS has recently organised a members’ night event at The Art House where younger members of all races, gathered together, rehearsed and performed on the same stage. Our distinguished member and Director and Chairman of PR Committee, Jeremy Monteiro, was there as Guest of Honour to provide the mentorship and encouragement. At the event, I urged cross collaboration between members of different ethic groups. We should leverage on our cultural diversity to create unique cultural products that can be marketed across Asia. For example the Malay music writers collaborating with their Chinese counterparts can spark more creativity. It will also help the Malay writers to gain access to the huge Chinese markets. So it is a win-win situation for all.
I am very happy to report that some members are responding well to my call. Tonight, you can watch a collaboration between Earth Mode and Wang Chen Wei. Earth Mode comprising Jamal and Khai are passionate musicians while Chen Wei is a very promising young classical composer. They will debut the latest composition by Chen Wei, entitled “Spirits of the Land” which was specially composed for tonight’s occasion. We also have Didicazli, nominated this year for the Annugerah awards, recording his second album, with the permission of Touch Music Publishing, will be using some of the Chinese compositions written and made famous by our international artiste and composer, JJ Lin.
These examples, modest as they may be, can serve as models for more such collaborative projects in the future. We will organise the members’ night event on a regular basis. I therefore urge our members, regardless of language and music genre, to participate actively when we do the next one soon.
Tonight, our membership gathers together for the twelfth time in our history to present awards to members whose compositions topped the popularity charts and also outstanding Singaporeans within the music industry for their achievements and contributions. I would like to express our heartiest congratulations to all deserving winners and recipients. We are proud of you all.
The highlight of this year’s presentation is the “COMPASS Lifetime Achievement Award” to honour a distinguished and a very well-respected Singaporean for devoting his entire life to create musical compositions comprising orchestral and choral works. His entire catalogue of works is a precious asset to our nation and an important part of our heritage.
Now, on behalf of the membership, I would like once again thank our guest-of-honour, Dr Balakrishnan, for his presence in gracing the occasion. My sincere appreciation also goes to all of tonight’s performers, artistes, backstage and technical staff, music writers of musical works to be performed tonight, event advisor – our Director Mel Ferdinands, and our PR manager Rachel for shouldering the burden for organizing this event. So everyone just relax and enjoy your evening. Thank you.
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