Despite the challenges created by the COVID-19 outbreak, the ASEAN Music Showcase Festival (AMS) is ready to come back for its second year with an effort to help regional artists stay in touch with their fan base and expose themselves to different prospects.
On September 11-12, 2021 (Saturday and Sunday), YouTube will host Southeast Asia’s first collaboration intra regional music showcase event. On the following day, September 13, 2021, virtual speed meetings intended at providing one-on-one networking chances between rising regional musicians and global music business executives will be hosted as a private event (Monday).
With the live music and entertainment industries being hit hard across the globe, AMS promises to offer an alternative but viable platform that connects global music networks to Southeast Asia, primarily the seven co-organizing countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand; with Cambodia and Vietnam further expanding this year’s programming with additional participating delegates and more up-and-coming and established local artists to the regional lineup.
AMS co-founder and Director of Educational, Governmental, and Overseas Partnership of Bangkok-based music company Fungjai, Piyapong ‘Py’ Muenprasertdee, shares that instead of waiting for the pandemic to end, the participating organizers of each country aim to help regional artists be proactive and put their music in front of potential talent buyers from all over the world. “Because of the pandemic, many showcase festivals around the world are going online, which means artists don’t need to spend money on travel and accommodation to join—and consequently, international music professionals and talent buyers need to hop on this virtual online landscape as well—opening the door of opportunity to more export-worthy artists.”
“We were conceived during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, so we weren’t able to organize the showcase festival physically and were naturally forced to organize it virtually,” Py explains. “However, we do hope to organize it physically and rotate the host country each year after the pandemic is over.”
AMS is co-organized by Fungjai, NYLON Thailand, and Bangkok Music City from Thailand; The Rest Is Noise PH from the Philippines; Steady State Records from Singapore; SRM from Indonesia; City Roars Festival from Malaysia; Baramey Production from Cambodia; and Monsoon Music Festival and Swan Zoo from Vietnam.
Malaysia’s Cultural Economy Development Agency (CENDANA), the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB), and TuneCore, a major digital music distribution, publishing, and licensing organization with over 150 premium collaborators across the world, are co-presenting this year’s event. Music Copyright (Thailand) Ltd. (MCT), as well as festival partners Golden Melody Awards & Festival and LUCfest in Taiwan, Global Toronto in Canada, and Live at Heart in Sweden, are all supporting AMS.
Visit the official website for more information about the ASEAN Music Showcase Festival’s second edition.
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