ANNUAL ADDRESS IN ENGLISH BY DR EDMUND LAM, CEO & DIRECTOR / COMPASS
AT COMPASS AWARDS 2011 CEREMONY
HELD AT RAFFLES BALLROM, RAFFLES CITY CONVENTION CENTRE
ON SUNDAY 10TH JULY 2011
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 Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for Information, Communications and The Arts,distinguished guests, COMPASS members and friends.
First of all, it is my great pleasure, on behalf of our membership, to welcome Dr Yaacob to our music fraternity as the newly appointed Minister in-charged of the Arts. We are confident that Dr Yaacob will provide further impetus to help our community further develop and promote local music in Singapore.
As per normal, I will speak shortly in Malay and Chinese on specific issues before I revert to English. The issues are different and the English translation of my speeches will be on our website.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Last year, COMPASS achieved an impressive growth rate of about 12% with total revenue exceeding $17 million. The growth came mainly from the fast-expanding entertainment sector, driven largely by the strong economy and record-level tourist arrivals, and the increasing number of live performances. The concert scene seemed to be expanding over the last few years, not only in Singapore but also in many other countries, confirming the trend that people prefer consuming “live” music despite the easy accessibility to digital music.
Our expense-to-revenue ratio or operating cost continued to improve – down to 11.9% – lowest in history and comparable to the best collective management societies around the world despite our small market size.
Singaporean music of all genres is currently enjoying a greater level of popularity in Singapore than at any other time in our short history since independence. While music writers have enjoyed an increase in their performance rights royalties over the last decade many challenges still exist – such as to earn proper recognition and fair livelihood, especially in being fairly compensated for use of their compositions on the Internet.
As the local music industry further develops, it is important that our respect for the contribution of songwriters is not undermined. Music writing is a unique talent that produces compositions that resonate with the emotions of people across the world with immediate and future value.
We must – and we will – ensure the creative contributions of our members are not diminished or forgotten so that we can encourage more original Singaporean music which would be an important part of our future cultural heritage.
The first half of this year marked the sad passing away of two of our pioneer members who have contributed significantly to the development of local music in Singapore during their lifetime.
The late Dr Goh Keng Leng passed away on 21 February this year. He was our founder Chairman when COMPASS was established in 1987. Our organization faced tremendous odds in the initial few years as the concept of music copyrights in which music writers get compensation for public performance and broadcast of their works were relatively new in Singapore. We are grateful and indebted to the late Dr Goh for his critical contributions which laid the foundation for our success today.
Recognised as the father of Singaporean classical composers, the late Mr Leong Yoon Pin passed away on 13 April leaving behind an important legacy ofover 160 pieces of musical works, many of which were commissioned by professional orchestras and established choirs. His musical achievements need no reiteration. To me, nurturing the next generation was his most important contribution. Many of our contemporary composers have gone through his tutelage. Tonight one of his many outstanding students, Mr Tan Chan Boon, is placed in-charge of a special performance in tribute and remembrance of our great composer, the late Mr Leong Yoon Pin.
COMPASS is now one big multi-racial family with about 1300 members. We have gradually evolved into some sort of a unifying force for the diverse local music fraternity and only with unity can we as a family do great things. I urge for your continuing strong support and understanding even when we are unable to meet every need and request of members.
Some of our members have actively supported charity organisations to raise funds last year. The main events include the Singapore Children’s Society Gala Dinner on Children’s Day; Jeremy Monteiro’s 50th birthday concert ‘SWINGING IN SINGAPORE’ on 30 July with the Community Chest; Mel and Joe concert – “Celebrating 40 years” – with the Straits Times School Pocket Money Funds. There were also many other charity events, although smaller in scale, but nevertheless as meaningful and commendable in spirit.
For the benefit of those who are attending this event for the first time, the recipients for tonight’s awards are members whose compositions topped the popularity charts and also outstanding Singaporeans within the music industry for achieving excellence in their musical field or have contributed significantly to the development of the local music industry. The highlight of this year’s presentation is the “COMPASS Life Time Achievement Award” to honour a distinguished musician, well-known to all of us, for devoting his musical career to the art of conducting orchestras and choruses in Europe and Asia. He is also active in Singapore promoting opera, ballet, contemporary music and choral excellence. At the same time, I would like to express our heartiest congratulations to all deserving winners and recipients.
Finally, on behalf of the membership, I would like once again to thank our guest-of-honour, Dr Yaacob, for his presence in gracing the occasion. Many thanks to all the people who are contributing to this evening’s performances including our Director Mel Ferdinands, and our PR manager Rachel for shouldering the responsibility of organising this event. And of course last but definitely not least, Justinand Chermaine, for hosting the event. So everyone just relax and enjoy your evening. Thank you.
MALAY SPEECH
Saudara saudari Karyawan Muzik Melayu Singapura.
Dengan gembira dan sukacita, sekali lagi saya melaporkan bahawa artis artis dan karyawan muzik kita telah mencapai kejayaan cemerlang sepanjang tahun lalu. Kedudukan “charta” telah meletakkan artis kita di tempat teratas seperti Hardy Mirza,Sleeq dan Didicazli.
“Royalties” untuk persembahan umum di Singapura juga telah meningkat sebanyak sepuluh peratus (10%) untuk tahun 2010 jika dibandingkan dengan tahun sebelumnya. Begitu juga dengan “Royalties” dari Malaysia juga bertambah sedikit. Kita tidak dapat banyak imbuhan dari pihak Indonesia, ini mungkin kerana KCI atau Karya Cipta Indonesia menghadapi masalah dalaman. Kita sedang membuat kajian bagaimana kita boleh dengan cara terbaik untuk mewakili karyawan kita di Indonesia, walaupun kita tahu artis kita belum begitu popular di Indonesia. Bagaimana pun mungkin ada sedikit perubahan apabila Didicazli berjaya membuka jalan pasaran Indonesia dengan mendapat tempat di beberapa program television Indonesia.
Sehubungan dengan pentingnya pasaran luar, MediaCorp Radio Warna dan Ria dengan sokongan Media Development Authority serta COMPASS akan menganjurkan Anugerah Planet Muzik (APM) 2011 pada 15 July di Max Pavilion. Kali ini agak berbeza dengan tahun-tahun sebelumnya , kita mempunyai kekuatan dengan artis-artis tempatan yang akan lebih mendapat pendedahan.Saya sendiri berharap agar APM adalah satu-satunya Anugerah Muzik Serantau, dan ianya akan menjadi Anugerah Mega untuk karyawan muzik serantau. APM juga diharapkan akan menjadi “platform” untuk artis tempatan menunjukkan bakatnya melalui channel television ketiga-tiga Negara.
Hanya satu perkara yang mendukacitakan apabila kita terpaksa menangguhkan” Anugerah Hitz” untuk tahun ini. Kerana kita terpaksa mencari Penaja Utama untuk siaran melalui television. Oleh itu kita terpaksa terus fokas (Focus) siri keempat “Projek Rentak” dengan meneruskan pertandingan mencipta lagu anjuran bersama Radio Warna dan Ria dengan sokongan PERKAMUS.
Di sini juga saya ingin menyampaikan ucapan terima kasih khusus kepada “Kumpulan Sleeq” kerana sumbangan mereka dalam membantu Konsert Amal “Singapore Children’s Society” dalam satu acara amal rasmi di majlis makan malam di Ritz Carlton pada 1 hari bulan October 2010 bersempena Hari Kanak-Kanak. Mereka mendapat penghargaan dari Yang Amat Berhormat Presiden Nathan dalam acara tersebut. Mereka telah berkerja keras dalam masa latihan bersama kanak-kanak. COMPASS sebagai penganjurnya.
COMPASS akan terus memberi sumbangan kewangan dan sokongan moral kepada PERKAMUS untuk kegiatan-kegiatan mereka selama ini, semoga mereka akan berterusan bergiat demi kepentingan karyawan muzik masyarakat Melayu.
Baru-baru ini saya dapat hadir dalam pertemuan tahunan pada 4 hari bulan Jun lalu. Para pemimpin dan ahli-ahli PERKAMUS begitu komited secara individu dengan visi an objektif yang jelas. Mereka telah melakarkan untuk tahun-tahun mendatang beberapa aktiviti, seperti “Bengkel Mencipta dan Menggubah Lagu” “ Seminar tentang “Muzik dan Islam” “Muzik kelas untuk kumpulan pemuzik tradisional dengan kerjasama Majlis Seni Kebangsaan (NAC), “Konsert Marathon 2011” dan berbagai-bagai aktiviti lagi.
Akhir sekali, saya ucapkan berbanyak-banyak terima kasih di atas sokongan anda kepada COMPASS. Semoga kami dapat kerkhidmat untuk anda sedaya mampu. Sama-samalah kita nantikan masa hadapan yang cemerlang.
Terima kasih.
Translation:
Dear Members of the Malay Music Community,
I am happy to once again report to you that our artists and song writers have generally done well for the whole of last year. The top positions in the charts were dominated by local artists like Hardy Mirza, Sleeq and Didicazli.
Royalties for public performances in Singapore are on the rise – about 10% growth for year 2010 compared with the previous year. Royalties from Malaysia also recorded a slight increase. We did not receive much from Indonesia as the local society, KCI, is struggling with internal problems. We are reviewing how we can better represent the interest of our members in Indonesia although our artists and works there are still not popular yet. However, that may change as Didicazli has successfully made inroads into the Indonesian market appearing in some of their top television programmes.
In connection with these important overseas markets, MediaCorp Radio’s Warna and RIA, with support from Media Development Authority and COMPASS, will be organising the Anugerah Planet Muzik (APM) 2011 on 15 Jul at the Max Pavilion. This time round, compared with other years, we will have a strong Singapore flavour with more local artists and musicians given more prominent exposure. I personally hope that APM, the only regional music awards, will become a mega regional event. APM has the potential to become a critical platform for our local artistes to be exposed to a larger regional audience with the major television channels in these countries agreeing to telecast the event.
However, one major setback is the postponement of the AguneraHitz.sg this year owing to the difficulty to find a main sponsor for the television show. We will instead now continue to focus on the fourth series of “Project Rentak” – a songwriting competition, jointly organised with radio Warna and Ria, and supported by PERKAMUS.
On this occasion, I would also like to thank Sleeq for their contributions to help raise funds for the Singapore Children’s Society at a formal charity dinner at Ritz Carlton on Children’s Day on 1st October. They received a token of appreciation from President Nathan at the event. COMPASS was responsible for organising the performances. They have spent much of their time to rehearse and perform with the children from the homes.
COMPASS will continue to provide financial and moral support to PERKAMUS for the many good things they have done and will continue to do for the Malay community. I attended their AGM on 4 June. The leaders and members of PERKAMUS are committed individuals with clear vision and objectives. It has lined up another year of activities like music arrangement workshop, seminar on “Music and Islam”, music class in ethnic and Malay traditional music in collaboration with National Arts Council, Concert Marathon 2011 and many others.
Lastly, thank you everyone for your strong support of COMPASS. We hope to continue serving you to the best of our ability. Have a great year ahead!
CHINESE SPEECH
亲爱的会员和朋友们,
COMPASS去年的总税收超出1千7百万元，比前年高出12个百分点。其中，原本预计协会的海外税收会受到香港、台湾、马来西亚等地区经济放缓的影响而微跌。结果，税收出乎意料地抱持平稳。这反映了本地音乐人在这些市场上有不俗的表现。
另外，中国方面也为音乐人捎来了好消息。COMPASS在中国的姐妹协会，MCSC成功地向中国中央电视台CCTV征收了人民币1千9百万元（约新币3百20万元）的版税。MCSC方面表示，这笔版税相等于CCTV在2010年广告总收益的百分之0.37。中国目前有大约3000家广播业者。继这项突破性的进展后， MCSC将着重于向中国的国家广播电台，以及其他省份的主要电视台征收版税。
2011年上半年，我们痛失了两名对本地音乐有巨大贡献的创会会员。
吴景廉博士于今年2月21日逝世。吴博士是COMPASS于1987年成立时的创会主席。协会在成立初期经历了不少挑战。当时人们对版权毫无概念。对于许多人来说，向音乐创作人支付版权费可谓前所未闻。吴博士当年为协会的运作扎下了稳固的基础。协会能有今天的成就，吴博士功不可没。
被誉为“新加坡古典作曲家之父”的梁荣平老师也于4月13日逝世。梁老师遗留下来的音乐作品超过160件。其中不少是专业乐团与资深合唱团所特别委托创作的曲子。梁老师在音乐方面的成就有目共睹。我个人认为，他最重大的贡献是他培育了不少新一代音乐人才。本地不少优秀的作曲家都曾是他的学生。今晚，他其中一位得意门生陈灿文先生将领导16人的弦乐团，为大家呈现梁老师的作品，与大家一起追思梁老师，并向他献上最后的敬意。
接下来，让我向大家汇报一些开心的事。
梁文福博士在去年10月获得我国纳丹总统所颁发的文化奖。这不仅是对他个人音乐成就的肯定，更是对新谣运动的肯定。新谣运动起于1980年，对那一代年轻人有深切的影响。梁博士是新谣运动的先驱者。他获得这份荣誉，除了是对他的贡献的认可，也包含了对新谣在我国社会文化传承方面的认可。我在这里谨代表协会，恭喜梁博士，以及曾参与新谣运动的所有音乐人。
说到新谣，就不能不提海蝶音乐以其附属的音乐版权公司，大石音乐。海蝶刚于上个月25日庆祝创立25周年，并举办了“我们的歌在这里”演唱会，得到非常好的回响。海蝶从一间小型公司发展至今天的亚洲音乐新势力,其中的艰辛可想而知。我很开心见到那么多的新加坡人给予海蝶支持。他们的热情，体现了他们对本地歌手、本地创作的情意结。不管是以前还是现在，他们对本地音乐依然热爱与执著。我感到很欣慰，并希望这份热情能够持续燃烧，让本地音乐在接下来的日子继续发光发热！
在艺术与古典音乐类别方面，我很高兴看到多名来自不同音乐组织的领袖协力创立了“新加坡音乐家协会”。“新加坡音乐家协会”主要宗旨为鼓励与促进新加坡音乐家的活动。不论是作曲家、写词人、指挥家、歌唱家或是乐器演奏家，都欢迎加入交流，以此培育新加坡音乐家之间的友谊以及提供一个有关音乐知识与技术交流的平台。我觉得音协的成立对本地艺术音乐的发展具有积极意义。让我在此恭贺首任会长，李煜传先生以及理事们成功成立音协，并期待能够在近期内看到它主办多个高素质活动来为艺术音乐开拓更多、更明朗的道路。为了表示对新加坡音乐家协会的鼎力支持，我在这里宣布一件好消息，COMPASS董事会决定捐一万元母金给该协会。
最后，我想对COMPASS会员们致谢。协会能够壮大，你们的支持是最大的动力。没有你们的鼓励，COMPASS不可能有今天的成绩。谢谢你们！
Translation:
Dear Members and Friends.
COMPASS’ revenue continued to grow at an impressive rate of about 12% last year, exceeding $17 million. Royalties from overseas markets, which were expected to dip owing to slower economic growth in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia in the previous year, did well to maintain at the same level as previous year. Our music and artistes continued to do well in these markets.
There is a breakthrough development in China which bodes well for the future of songwriters. CCTV, the national broadcaster of China, has agreed to pay MCSC – our affiliated society – an agreed lump sum of RMB19 million (approximately S$3.2 million), which according to MCSC, represented about 0.37% of CCTV’s advertising revenues for broadcast royalties in 2010. With the conclusion of the CCTV contract, MCSC can now focus on licensing the national radio station as well as the other large provincial TV stations. It is estimated that there are over 3,000 broadcasters throughout China.
The first half of this year marked the sad passing away of two of our pioneer members who have contributed significantly to the development of local music in Singapore during their lifetime.
The late Dr Goh Keng Leng passed away on 21 February this year. He was our founder Chairman when COMPASS was established in 1987. Our organization faced tremendous odds in the initial few years as the concept of music copyrights in which music writers get compensation for public performance and broadcast of their works were relatively new in Singapore. We are grateful and indebted to the late Dr Goh for his critical contributions which laid the foundation for our success today.
Recognised as the father of Singaporean classical composers, the late Mr Leong Yoon Pin passed away on 13 April leaving behind an important legacy ofover 160 pieces of musical works, many of which were commissioned by professional orchestras and established choirs. His musical achievements need no reiteration. To me, his most important contribution was the nurturing of the next generation. Many of our contemporary composers have gone through his tutelage. Tonight one of his many outstanding students, Mr Tan Chan Boon, is placed in-charge of a special performance in tribute and remembrance of our great composer, the late Leong Yoon Pin.
Now I moved on to announce some happy developments.
Dr Liang Wern Fook was conferred the Cultural Medallion last October by our President Mr Nathan for his many achievements and contributions in the musical field but most importantly as an indispensable pioneer of the xinyao movement which impacted a whole generation of young Singaporeans in the eighties. The award is also an official recognition of the social impact of xinyao. On behalf of COMPASS, I would like to offer my heartiest congratulations to Wern Fook and also to all those who were involved one way or another with the xinyao movement.
Also synonymous with the xinyao movement, Ocean Butterflies and its music publishing subsidiary, Touch Music, celebrated its 25th anniversary on 25 June with “These Are Our Songs” Anniversary Concert with overwhelming success. They have come a long way from a humble beginning to a leading independent music powerhouse in Asia I am heartened to see so many happy Singaporeans extending their support, many with sentimental and warm feelings towards the local music and artistes, past and present. Well done and look forward to many more years of great music!
In another major step to boost the development of local musicians, I am pleased to note that some leadership members from different musical associations have come together to form a new association called the “Musicians Society of Singapore” to provide a united platform for exchange of ideas and promote collaboration among all musicians, regardless of whether they are composers, lyricists, conductors, choral singers, instrumentalists and others. This is an inspiring move that will benefit the local music fraternity and I look forward to its activities in the near future. Let me congratulate the Founding Chairman, Mr. Lee Yuk Chuan and members of the Committee. In showing our strong support for the newly-established society, I am pleased to announce on behalf of the Board of COMPASS that we will donate $10,000 to the society for implementation of various activities that they have planned for.
Finally, I like to thank every member for your strong support and encouragement without which progress for our organisation would not have been possible.
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