VietNamNet Bridge – A representative of GMM Grammy, Varavuthi Bulakul, said Vietnam is an open market though it has many talents. The thing that Vietnamese singers need is a complete development strategy. The country’s music industry can’t integrate into the world yet and Vietnam doesn’t have a single recording product distribution company that reaches the regional level.

Singer Minh Thu and Thai audience.

After distributing three albums, namely Made in Vietnam, Chat with Mozart and Let Love Sing, in Japan, the Japan-based Pony Chanyon Distributor company and Vietnamese singer My Linh are sprinting to release the fourth album of My Linh in Japan this year’s end.

On this fourth album, My Linh will sing in English. This is a strategy to expand the Japanese market for My Linh’s voice by Pony Chanyon Distributor.

Talent, potential

The cooperation between My Linh and a foreign distributor is not the sole one in Vietnam. Minh Thu is an exclusive singer of Thailand-based House of Indies. After a joint album with two Thai singers, Minh Thu is preparing to introduce her first album in Thailand in early June 2009.

“With the global distribution network of HMV, my album will come to many music markets in the world,” Minh Thu said.

The Warner-Chapelle and Articrecords, which have big market shares in Canada and Asia, choose Duc Tuan. The two companies are responsible for distributing Duc Tuan’s “Music of the Night” album in Vietnam, Canada and some Asian countries. Particularly, Warner-Chapelle will release the album in Hong Kong, Singapore and some Asian markets while Articrecords will distribute it in Canada.

Nurimaru Pictures, a South Korean firm that built the image of famous Korean singer BoA, is cooperating with My Tam to produce albums in the “Time and Me” project. This firm is the sole investor in delivering My Tam’s products and advertising her image in Asian countries.

The Thailand-based GMM Grammy not only invests in singers, it established a training centre in Vietnam. This firm targets training child voices to turn them into future stars.

The firm’s representative, Varavuthi Bulakul, said that his company invests in Vietnam because Vietnam is an open market though it has many talents. The thing that Vietnamese singers need is a complete development strategy. The country’s music industry can’t integrate into the world yet and Vietnam doesn’t have a single recording product distribution company that reaches the regional level.

Narrow door

The cooperation between Vietnamese signers and foreign companies hasn’t yielded clear results, but the door to the world is beginning to open for Vietnamese artists.

Song writer Anh Quan, My Linh’s husband, said: “When My Linh cooperated with Pony Chanyon Distributor, I understood that this is a big opportunity to bring her name to the world.”

“Each culture has a different genre of pop music. But classical music is the same in every country because it has standards. So it is not difficult for us to reach an agreement,” said singer Duc Tuan.

However, to be chosen by foreign partners, Vietnamese singers have to prove their value.

One of the first conditions for cooperation is the joint product must meet international standards in terms of sound. Vietnamese singers, thus, have had to go abroad for months for recording.

Minh Thu said she travelled to Thailand very often to complete her sound tracks. Duc Tuan went to Canada for nearly two months to record “Music of the Night”. My Tam stayed in South Korea for nearly one year to produce her album and to learn performance skills.

Vietnamese singers also have to follow extremely strict working schedules set by their partners. An advertising campaign may last for months, in different places, and the cost for this itinerary is huge.

Song writer Anh Quan said average expenditures to release an album in Japan is $500,000. Meanwhile, investment in Duc Tuan’s Music of the Night in Canada is $25,000. This singer plans to cooperate with Paul Batement to produce a semi-classic album in the UK, at a cost of $70,000. The pay for advertising is several times higher than the production cost. With the huge investment, it is really difficult for Vietnamese singers to attack foreign markets, unless they cooperate with foreign partners.

VietNamNet/NLD