Lonely Afternoon

Yeah, Fresh Music is so nice to me until~~~~

Their blog entry on my music is up on OMY today… Have a look here.

The part 3 and part 4 of my podcast with them are up here. OMG, really got volunteer who wants to shoot MV for me, LOL. Wow.

Yeah yeah yeah~!

Sorry for the delay in sharing my experience
coming up with this DIY - I’ve been too busy resting and enjoying
myself after a mad dash the past 5 mths  

So, I want to share my take on - Is there a need to get a distributor for your DIY?

I
remember thinking to myself I need a distributor after the master cd
was out, mainly to help distribute my cds to various stores, and even
harboured the vanity thought - "My cd will look better if it has a "distributed by "(fill-in big-brand-name-here)" sticker on the cover. Maybe more people will pay attention to it?"

I
agree, actually, it almost seems like a chop of guarantee when you
manage to secure a deal with a well-known distributor, and one should
go for it and have a try. But is there a real need? I did try to source
for a distributor, actually, I stupidly sent copies of master cd to the
various distributors - one at a time. On hindsight, it was not a good
time to be "faithful" because each one of them dragged me for what
seemed ages (at least 2 weeks each). Ranging from replies like "Sorry
but we have other big names coming up end of the year, so we won’t be
able to distribute your album" to "I’m sorry but we’re prefer if there
are more Mandarin songs" blah and etc.

And so, the waiting
turned out to be fruitless and - though it might sadly sound like I’m
eating sour grapes now - I am truly thankful things turned out this
way. Why so? Yes, even though I cursed and swore when I had to deliver
1 or 2 humongous and heavy boxes of cds down to the headquarters of
Sembawang Music and Gramophone, I actually enjoyed a few points:

1.I
get to know the manager of the company PERSONALLY. It’s the personal
touch, and it was very encouraging to hear them spur you on. And they
tell you personally, from the retailers’ point of views, what music
they want to hear more from you.

2.I do not have to give a cut
to the distributor. It is anything from 20-30% of the retail price, so
imagine if you are selling your album at the retail price of $18.90, the retailer will take 30-35%; assuming at 30% it’ll be $5.67. If there is a distributor, it will be another say 20% off (just a conservative estimation), which comes up to be $3.78. So after giving these 2 portion away, your cut is only $9.45
per cd. You do the maths. For 1 or 2 trips, or 3 trips of taxi fare,
it’s much worthwhile to not have a distributor do the carrying of cds
down for you, because you do not have to go down shop by shop, but only
to the headquarter of each compay.

3.It’s a DIY album, so DIY and get the experience!

Next I will share my take on "Is there a need to have a manager?"

More blog entries here.

And here’s the part 2!
If you’re curious about how and why I went to Mackie Kitchen (Hong
Kong) to perform in May, the difficulties I faced with regards to
performance spaces in Singapore, as an indie singer here’s from the
horse’s mouth..

And….Tien-yao and I have plans to go Taiwan to perform end of the year, can’t wait for that to happen hehe. (”,)

And yes yes, I think Lee Hom is a genius. Woohooooo!

More entries at www.bevlynkhoo.com/blog

 I am Fresh Music Podcast #82 lol.

We recorded the podcast in one of SMU’s random rooms, and it was
great to finally meet the faces behind Fresh Music. I really think it
requires loads of dedication, and love for music, in order to keep the
site going. Do check out their site;
you can trust that these people do not mince their words i.e. they will
tell you bluntly what they think is good and what is not, big stars or
not -  I think honesty is what listeners or readers of music reviews
would appreciate.They listen to a wide variety of music,
commercial/indie/english/mandarin; and they even provide Utube links!
*I am for instance thrilled they like Jason Mraz and Mariah Carey aha*

My voice sounds so low and weird compared to their processed voices.
I would much prefer they process my voice as well lol. Part 2 will be
up next week (I think).

This is erm, quite outdated, but just for the records, it’s going up my blog.

It was a mad rush for the last show. I went to catch Sonny Rollins‘
(first and probably last in Singapore) concert at the esplanade, and
had to leave at 1020pm. Reached at 1050pm and after some mad rush, went
on-air soon after.

A break will do us good, cos we want to do a comeback with a more interesting lineup. Yeah!

Thanks to Tina who did the phone interview and writeup. Tien-yao had
no idea his face was in the circulation of U-weekly mag until I showed
him!

And of course thanks to Dengli who took the pic for us (printing didn’t turn out to be as nice as original though!)

Last but not least, thanks to Ken for being such a conscientious and fun DJ!

www.bevlynkhoo.com/blog