LIFT: Limpeh Is Foreign Talent: Limpeh's full Sun Ho/CHC TNP interview

Hello guys, you may have noticed that I was interviewed for the TNP article on Sun Ho's career. I had actually provided the journalist with a lot of useful insight into the music industry and I was kinda disappointed as to what he had chosen to use and what he had chosen to left out in his article - he did interview quite a few other experts in the industry, so I am going to give you my full answers here (along with some music videos). I may as well publish them on my own blog! I have also had the chance since I edit my responses a little, since I have done the original interview in a hurry.

Q: Even though Sun Ho had several chart-topping singles in the Billboard Dance charts, why did that not translate to commercial success? What is the significance of the Billboard charts anyway?

A. Simple. It is with regards to the way the dance charts are compiled - the position of the songs in the charts are determined by playlists submitted by DJs in influential clubs and radio stations. So it really reflects the opinions of a relatively small handful of DJs in America who are willing to play these songs - so whilst it is nice to be popular amongst these small group of influential DJs in America, it doesn't necessary translate into commercial success. In order for an artiste to make money, you need people to spend money on your music: through downloads or buying CDs - it costs me nothing to listen to music on the radio, the fact that I may hear a song on the radio doesn't put any money in the pocket of the singer. The Billboard singles chart reflects real sales - that's where Sun Ho has failed to achieve any tangible success in America: maybe some of her earlier dance hits were popular with some DJs but in terms of the general public, she failed to get noticed in a very, very crowded market. In the pop music industry, it is not a popularity contest per se, you want to make money at the end of the day and if her dance chart success has failed to persuade the American public to spend enough money on her music, then she was never going to go mainstream.

Q. Why are marketing budgets for newcomers, especially Asian singers, so large?

A: It depends: not all newcomers have huge budgets. In the world of manufactured K-pop and J-pop, you have huge production companies just throwing money at their newcomers whom they have groomed for a few years prior to their big debut. That reflects the way the industry is dominated and controlled by a few big labels: in South Korea, some of the biggest names include SM Entertainment, Loen, YG Family and JYP. There are smaller labels of course, but the bigger labels have huge marketing budgets to ensure that any newcomer they launch will have an above average chance of success. But in the West, the process is more organic - you get singers who promote themselves on social media on a shoestring budget, they slowly get noticed when say a music video goes viral; perhaps they go through one of the talent shows to showcase their talent to a bigger audience. Different markets, different business models.

The reflects the way the internet has really democratized and changed the music industry: in the 1980s, what teenagers listened to were the songs selected by a small number of DJs in the most popular radio stations. Thus musical tastes were a lot more mainstream in those days compared to today, where most teenagers would have compiled their own playlists on their phones or iPods and commercial radio has far less influence in the process: today, people free to go onto the internet and discover music not only from other countries, but from other eras and find something that matches their tastes. Thus the industry responds in two ways: either it needs to throw even more money into promoting their artistes to the younger generation, or they simply follow market trends and sign up artistes who have already found a way to establish themselves organically - the latter is becoming more common.

Q: What will the money be spent on?

A. A whole range of things: paying a whole range of people from the production side, we're talking about everyone from studio/sound engineers, to lyricists, to musicians, to backing singers, managers then you have the whole marketing & PR side of the business - once you have a product, you have to sell it, it isn't going to sell itself and everyone involved will want to be paid. Of course you can do things on a budget, but Sun Ho spent plenty of money.

Q: Sun Ho collaborated with Wyclef Jean and Missy Elliot for her music videos, paying nearly $3m in total for their involvement. Are collaborations with established stars a tried-and-tested method for newcomers to succeed? Why?

A: No. Even singers like Wyclef Jean and Missy Elliot have produced duds which have failed to chart. Heck, even Madonna has not achieved much commercial success with her latest work (and she is really selling only to her hardcore loyal fans) - every song has got to be judged on its merits, you can't assume that just because you work with a big star that you're guaranteed a hit: you still need a good product at the end of the day and Sun Ho's China Wine was just dreadful beyond words - like, was she so totally star struck she failed to realize how awful that song was?

Q: Are there examples of Asian artistes who dump cash into the system but still failed to do so?

A: I know that many K-pop bands have tried to break into the American market - 2NE1 and Wonder Girls are amongst the long list of Korean bands who thought that after Psy's Gangnam Style, the American market was ripe for more K-pop. They were amongst many Korean bands who went on tour in America, desperately promoting themselves to that market only to realize that Gangnam Style was very much a one-off - it is possible to appeal to certain niches within the American market but you need to take it one step at a time. Carve out your niche, get a small group of fans, expand on your core audience, get a bit of a track record going, collaborate with various successful people - it is actually a very slow and organic process; simply injecting $24 million into the process will not give you instant success.

Q: You said that record labels normally fork out the cash to pay for such endeavors, and of course they expect a return. Why do you think none of them funded Ho in her US expansion?

A: It is a simple business decision: you invest in a project if you think you can make a return, a profit. They probably took one look at Sun Ho and thought, "no way she's going to make any money, this is but a vanity project. I'm going to invest with someone else who can actually make some money." Sun Ho was just so wrong for the American market in so many ways; yet she suffered from delusions of grandeur. Most of all, her team was under the impression that they could just keep throwing money at the project until it worked, ignoring the evidence before them that grew glaringly obvious. Anyone with any basic business acumen would realize how badly wrong things were going for them.

Sun Ho - could her music ever make money in America?

Q: Do you think Ho, or any CHC affiliated artistes, will be successful if they wanted to "try again"?

A: Well no. I don't think Sun Ho will try again - she is tainted goods with a bad reputation. By all means, anyone (not just CHC affiliated artistes but really just about anyone) can do it on a shoestring: compose your own music, edit it all on your laptop, there are plenty of apps out there which will allow amateurs to record and edit their own music. There are amateur DJs in Singapore who will gladly collaborate with you - just take a look at local comedians Munah & Hirzi - they have accumulated 25.7 million views on their Youtube channel and are one of Singapore's biggest Youtube stars with their music parodies. They do it all on a shoestring, collaborating with other local artistes and the reason why they are able to make money from Youtube is because their productions are relatively cheap but are of high quality - that's why they start making money quite easily once they amass a few million hits on Youtube. Sun Ho in contrast, has very expensive productions of poor quality, that's why there's no way she could have ever made any money commercially.

14 comments:

choaniki26 October 2015 at 01:47
Grats! You got your 15 mins of fame on mainstream media i'm sure your hits will increase due to their exposure.
Kevin Jang26 October 2015 at 13:46
I was wondering if there is any possibility of throwing Sun Ho into jail for musical travesty, in other words, simply producing bad music that does not count as music except as temporary pain for the ears? !!???!!
whimsical-fantasist26 October 2015 at 21:23
Where did you get the impression that 2NE1 has tried breaking into the US market? Unlike Wonder Girls, they didn't do any album or single promotion in the US. they only collaborated with will.i.am on a couple tracks and released a few of their hit songs in English, none of which was a specific attempt to break into the US market. They have expressed desire to do so, but they never really acted on that and have stayed mainly within the boundaries of kpop (mainly Asia), only going out to other places as part of a world tour.

So just curious on why you've listed them as an example. As other news sources are quoting you and not getting the facts themselves, it's good if you can explain your fact-checking process on this. :)
Unknown27 October 2015 at 19:06
自不量力，if she cannot even be famous in Asia market , how can she make it in USA where the African Americans can really sing, go any USA church and listen to their choir. Cannot sing well, no music inclination , no look, no distinct talent . Those who approved the crossover project didn't look at it objectively, evaluate the candidate, risk analysis etc
Eugene Tan29 October 2015 at 01:11
Hello Limpeh! I have been following your blog for quite a while, I wish to know your opinion about the recent happening - the one about someone taking to facebook to accuse Changi Airport immigration officer of infringing his rights.

Monday 26 October 2015

Limpeh's full Sun Ho/CHC TNP interview

14 comments: