WHY BUSK?
Sir Elton John, Elvis Presley,
BB King, Bon Jovi, Alanis Morissette – what do these names
share in common? Well, apart from making the very top list in the world of
music, be it in the past or present days, they also come from
the same root – the street. Yes, all of them used to busk in their early years!
The word “busk” is originated
from a Spanish word, “buscar”,
which means “to seek”, or some say it’s from the Italian word “buscare”, which
means “to gain”. Either way, both point out towards one meaning – “to look for
fame and fortune”.
Well, different person might
think differently. Some do this for a living, some might just do this for fun.
But all musicians do share this one same idea – to perform, and let people
enjoy their performance.
SO
WHY MALAYSIA?
The leading countries like the
UK and the USA have been doing great in promoting and creating systems for
their buskers. Some city councils like London
and Birmingham City even go the extra miles by providing spaces for these street
artists to perform. Well, the world music industry is really evolving, I might
say.
As it is changing fast, I
as a huge music fan myself couldn't just sit and let all the precious potentials
from my own home country go to waste, could I? If the mega stars can make it big, so can
we! And to do so is to start from below – from the root – the street.
Malaysia, being a
developing country, is definitely catching up. An audition
was held recently by the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) and the National Art Gallery in January 2013 to give
out street performing permits to the buskers. From a reported
1,000 buskers, 200 had turned up at the audition; marking a promising first
step for these talented street artists.
Well, it’s great to know that even
the authorities are starting to take notice of this. But the bigger question is, is that enough
for the buskers themselves? If their dream is to perform, then should this just
stop there, in the street? How do they make people aware? Or more importantly,
how to make people appreciate more?
So here’s where I step in.
MY
IDEA
The name is “MyBUSKERS”.
MyBUSKERS’ idea is about
creating online video portfolios for buskers in Malaysia. We capture
them perform in the street, build up their info and contact details, and upload
them onto the MyBUSKERS YouTube channel and blog.
All this while, we couldn't
tell for sure that the buskers that perform well on one evening,
would still be there on the next. Not even the same day next week.. not
guaranteed. But by referring to the details of activities on MyBUSKERS which
include their schedules and locations, they can build a strong fan and follower
base; just like a professional artist could.
And this would not just attract
fans, but more importantly the bigger prospects with wider job opportunities (which also means bigger 'stage' to perform on!).
WHO
WILL BENEFIT FROM THIS?
First and foremost, are of
course, the artists themselves. They can carry on doing what they like –
busking – while getting their music career well taken care of at the same time.
Second are the mass audience. They
will get broader range of selection with more variety of options to choose,
rather than just depending on the existing mainstream recording artists. The
more buskers we could get on this project, the wider selections of music genres
we could explore.
In third would be the
restaurants and lounges’ owners. Before this, they’re depending on agents or
managers or just mouth to mouth information to get to know about a shining star;
before having to go see the performance themselves to verify. This time, it could all be
done while keeping focused at running their businesses at the same time.
HOW
WOULD THIS WORK?
I’ve recently launched a survey* among Malaysians to
measure their opinions and preferences on the buskers and the busking activity
itself; and these are what I’ve found out:
From the market research, we can
see that there are strong demands towards this. However, another 58% don’t feel like wanting
to know more about the buskers’s personal details; something for me to consider
while drafting their details on the net.
Other details that are also required
from the survey would be suggestions of performing spots and their elaborated personal
opinions on the buskers; which would be useful for me in the next stages.
SO WHAT'S NEXT?
At the moment, I’m already in
touch with several parties that are related to the industry. This includes a production house, a music studio, a lounge,
groups of independent artists and some press. From there, I would hope to
expand my network to engage more contributors from each category.
Apart from getting in touch
with the potential collaborators and partners, I’d also need to get more information
on rules and regulations from the local councils. I have sent an informal email
to my contact from the Creative Industry
Department, under the Ministry of Communication and Multimedia, and am in
the midst of forwarding a formal inquiry.
Other than uploading just videos
of the buskers performing, I’ll also try to get famous musicians, locally or
internationally, to venture in by sharing some tips on the channel. Not only can this plan benefit the buskers, but it would also make the public aware that this
project is industry-endorsed.
MOVING FORWARD
Furthermore from the survey, these findings have also shown something:
The strong percentage have signified how commercially valuable these buskers are, and how much the audience
are willing to spend their money for good quality of music works; something the
record labels would want to hear. The people from the record companies could still carry on with the
conventional routine – going from a place to another to look for talents – or pitch
it up a note by doing the scouting from their own desks; by referring to our online
catalogue.
Other than that, I’m also trying
to get in contact with government-linked agencies to get their endorsements and
also potential funding. Related to that, these findings
For that,
I’ll also try to get in touch with the tourism boards and agencies in other cities and tourists' places of interests from all around Malaysia.
Why just stop at the lounges
and record labels while we’re at it? Countless potentials would occur from
there – such as events, concerts, tv programmes, movies, music downloads and
many more.
All in all, we’ll just let them
perform their music.. while we perform the rest.
* The
survey was conducted in Malaysian national language; and the link is the
translated version.
