Promoting Local Artists

Local artists have to go through such hassles to get a chance in Malaysian radio whereas Indians are free to get a chance in Malaysia.

Saravanan, Sec. Gabungan Artist-artist Indian Malaysia.

Prime Minister’s Office
Blok Utama, Bangunan Perdana Putra,
Pusat Pentadbiran Kerajaan Persekutuan,
62502 Putrajaya,
Wilayah Persekutuan.

Jabatan Penerangan Malaysia
Aras 5, 8-16 dan 18,
Kompleks Kementerian Komunikasi dan Multimedia
No. 49, Persiaran Perdana,
Presint 4
62100 Putrajaya

YAB/YB/Tuan/Puan,
Malaysian Indian songs should be aired at least 50% in all Tamil radios in Malaysia. We are artists from Gabungan Artist India Malaysia requesting the Malaysian government impose strict guidelines for all Tamil radios to play Local songs more than foreign songs.

During the management of Tun Dr. Mahathir, he had a policy that local products should be the priority. In that context we would like to urge the government to draw a line for foreign songs especially in Tamil radio stations. We are not anti foreign songs but if local songs are not played even in Malaysia, how can the Malaysian Indian artist reach the height of International level? Foreign songs which are mostly from India already reach the International market.

Recently, many artists have had terrible experiences at THR radio, a private channel, which is enshrined under Jabatan Penerangan Malaysia. Many hardworking artists are not recognized by our local channels. For example:-

a) Local song writers should send their songs under a registered label.

b) According to THR’s website it will take 2 weeks for them to approve or reject a song. It is very interesting to know how they approve a song. First, they send a song for rating which has 18,000 listeners. Those 18,000 listeners will make a decision which song to play in the radio station. We would like to make a point here, not all the 18,000 people are well versed in music, lyrics and expression of a song. They are just listeners. Many songs are rejected because of a low rating. There is an important point which we would like to make here; there are 194,400 likes in THR’s Raaga facebook page, out of 100k people we can see an average of 60 people likes their posting and we can only see 5 or 6 people comment on their postings. If out of 100k people you can get average of 60 likes what you will get from 18,000 people? Not everyone has time to spend on just listening then rating local songs. It is a complete discrimination from THR towards local Indian artists.

c) When a song is approved or rejected they don’t even answer by mail or letter to the related artist. If a song is rejected they should give a reason for it so that an artist can improve.

d) All radio channels should follow the ministry’s guidelines to approve the radio licence. The percentage of local artists should be taken into consideration because it is a guideline from the government.

e) THR and RTM are advertising Indian movie songs even before the release of the CDs or movies. The Indian artists do not have to go through procedures such as Malaysian artists:
• Should fill forms which are downloaded from their website;
• Should make a CD cover for every single song;
• A CD should be sent by registered post to THR’s guard house – with lyrics attached and should include details of the artist involved in the song,

No Indian artist has to go through all the procedures mentioned above. Local artists have to go through such hassles to get a chance in Malaysian radio whereas Indians are free to get a chance in Malaysia. It is not a good system which is created either by JPM or radio stations.

f) For the past 16 years, Malaysian artists have been fighting to get a chance or rights to play their songs in Malaysian radio. According to our recorded conversation from the THR management they play 2 to 3 Malaysian songs in an hour. That means local artists are getting less than a 10% chance in an hour. How will the government promote Malaysian talent when the local radios and TV restrict local songs and talents?

Those 2 or 3 songs are played everyday after 16 years of struggle. Do we have to struggle another 16 years to get another 8% chance? We from Gabungan Artist-artist India Malaysia would like to urge the government under the Prime Minister Dato Seri Najib Razak to draft strict guidelines for local and foreign songs. We need to stick to Tun Dr. Mahathir’s idea where local products should be given priority. We would like to have an official reply from the ministry so that it can be helpful in our effort to highlight the grievances of local artists.

Thank you for your understanding.

Yours faithfully,

Saravanan
Sec. Gabungan Artist-artist Indian Malaysia