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| (Image Source: Rappler/ASEAN Music Showcase Festival) |
The ASEAN Music Showcase (AMS) Festival is slated to return for its second edition with an initiative to help regional artists stay connected with their fanbase and introduce themselves to their audiences despite the setbacks caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Southeast Asia's first collaborative intraregional music showcase festival will have its online premiere on September 11-12, 2021 (Saturday and Sunday) on YouTube. Virtual speed meetings aimed at providing one-on-one networking opportunities between emerging regional musicians and global music industry professionals will take place as a private event on September 13, 2021 (Monday).
With the live music and entertainment industries across the globe being hit hard by the pandemic, AMS promises to offer an alternative but viable platform that connects global music networks to Southeast Asia, primarily Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines with Cambodia and Vietnam further expanding this year's occasion through additional participating delegates and the addition of more up-and-coming and established local artists to the festival lineup. Piyapong "Py" Muenprasertdee, Bangkok-based Fungjai's Director of Educational, Government and Overseas Partnerships and ASEAN Music Showcase Festival co-founder, shares that instead of waiting for the pandemic to end, the participating organizers in each country aim to help regional artists be proactive and put their music in front of potential talent buyers from all over the world.
Py explains in a statement, “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. However, we do hope to organize it physically and rotate the host country each year after the pandemic is over.”
The 2021 ASEAN Music Showcase (AMS) Festival 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. The event is co-presented by Malaysia's Cultural Economy Development Agency (CENDANA), the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Board (TCEB) and TuneCore, a leading US-based digital music distribution, publishing and licensing company with over 150 premium partners across the globe. AMS is also supported by Music Copyright (Thailand) Ltd. and festival partners Golden Melody Awards and Festival and LUCFest in Taiwan as well as Global Toronto in Canada and Live At Heart in Sweden. Visit AMS's official website to learn more about the upcoming 2021 edition and various developments on the festival's role in the progress of the Southeast Asian music scene.
