志文's EP launch at KBox Cineleisure (13th Dec 2008)

Hi all!

Here are some pics from the event...

This over 2-hour event took place at KBox @ Cineleisure. 志文 showcased his works in his EP and also some other songs that have had an significant impact on him. It was a heartwarming event, with many of 志文's fans and supporters attending. 加油志文! 我們會支持你的!

NTU 飛樂時空 14 Mini Concert @ Esplanade Library on 19th July 2008

Hi all,

Some photos from the event to share...

Kok Song, singing his own composition

Lester, VI Music Director

Lilian, the multi-talented one

Melvin, instructor/composer @ VI music, singing his own composition

This event drew quite a substantial crowd. Many original compositions were shared during this event. It serves as a encouragement to those songwriters-to-be to start writing their own songs.

Interested in music composing but don't know where and how to start? Contact us!

流行音乐制作分享会 18th May 2008 - NLB- Part one

Hello!!! For those who have missed the great show, fret not...Here are some interesting pictures to relate the event details...

From left to right: Koksong,Mark,Huiqi,Karen & YaoWen

This seminar was co-organised by NTU-Music Express 14 and VI Music, which it aims to inpire budding songwriters and educate the public on music composing.

Participants are from VI Music, many of them are songwriters and experienced performers.

The turnout for the seminar was pretty good. The crowd was young, mainly comprised of tertiary students and young adults.

Many of our own VI students also took time off to support us at NLB. Many thanks to you guys!!!







Our pretty emcee-Lilian interviewing Lester (VI's founder) and Zhiwen (VI's music instructor/music producer) at the start of the seminar. Both established songwriters have shared their experience in songwriting and their views on the current music industry.







An interview with our very own VI writer- Mark. He has written song for 辛晓琪 (空窗) and 赖雅妍（知觉）. Apart from song composing, Mark is also active in the music scene, with experiences in music production and performances. He is now busy with the SuperBand 2 competition by Channel U, where he plays the keyboard for the band 三月. 加油Mark and friends!!! Hope all of you can give them your support!





Karen performing for Mark's Song





Our new writer- Koksong sold his first song to Jordan Chan this year...He is a "活招牌" or learning example whom starts from stretch on music composing and works his way up till he sold his first song....Congrats Koksong....
Yao Wen presented the song -
难朋友。


There's really too much to share. I shall post the part 2 review soon...Stay tune!

COMPASS Dinner

Hi all!

COMPASS (Composers and Authors Society of Singapore Ltd) dinner was held on 25th of May 2008. These are a couple of photos of Zhiwen's performance that night at the dinner:

You can access COMPASS's website at http://www.compass.org.sg/. COMPASS is a non-profit public company, "created to to protect and promote the copyright interests of composers, authors* (and their heir) and publishers of musical works and their related lyrics".

Check out the website for further details and the awards that were given out this year.

流行音乐创作分享会花絮..10th May 2008

Our performers: Koksong, Wendy & YaoWen

First song: 上瘾 performed by Wendy & Joey

Lilian interviewing XiaoKai

Thank you those who came down to support the seminar organised by VI Music and NTU Music Express 14 committee at the National Library Plaza on the 10th of May 2008.

The turnout was well and all performers- Wendy, Xiaokai, Kok Song, Yao Wen have shared with the audience their experiences in music composing and their music inspirations. Not to forget our emcee, Lilian for her great assistance in coordinating the show and also Joey, for her guest appearance in performing for one of our songs.

The next seminar will be on 18th of May 2008, Sunday, 2pm to 4pm at the same location. This time round, we will introduce our VI established writers- Lester, Zhiwen, Mark & Melvin. They will share with the audience about the music industry and tips for songwriting. There will also be Live performances on the songs written by them. This is a show not to be missed....Do join us there!!! :)

Backtrack a little...haha

Apart from our writer-Koksong's recent release of his composition in Jordon 陳小春's new album 獨家記憶, just to backtrack a little (actually not really a little lah...:p), 2 of our writers- Melvin and Mark have also done us proud. Below are the details of the release of their compositions.

2006- October

Congrats to Melvin Tan Jes Wee 陳界維 and Mark Shi Yu Chun 施于淳 for successfully published their song in Evonne Xu Hui Xin 許慧欣 album Track 3, Pei Ni Deng Tian Liang 陪你等天亮.

2007- July

Congrats to our composer-Mark Shi 施于淳 for successfully published his song 空窗— (Track 4) in 辛晓琪 new album-爱的回答.

These are our accomplishments over the years and we are proud that VI's writers have received compliments for their hardwork and creativity.

Keep the spirit of composing burning & who knows, maybe the next uprising STAR will be YOU!

To all budding writers, 加油！！！

流行音樂創作分享會

Dear all,

VI Music and NTU's 飛樂時空 committee has organised a 流行音樂創作分享會, to be held at National Library Plaza, 10th May 2008 (Saturday) and 18th May 2008 (Sunday), 2 to 4pm on both days.

Please pop by to support if you can make it! Hope to see all of you there!

New Songs Released!!!

Hear hear!!!


We are proud to inform all that another song written by VI Music's new composer has been released.


Mr. Tan Kok Song, 陳囯松, a new composer in VI Music, has one of his demo (originally titled 濫好人) recorded and released by Jordan 陳小春 in this latest album. A cover version in cantonese will also be featured in this album.


Congratulations to Kok Song!! 加油!! 繼續寫更多好聽的歌!


Please see below for details:

沒有一個男人能像他這樣自嘲的唱情歌

只有這個男人唱著平凡小人物的心聲
憨厚悲情的平民情聖代言人

睽違二年

陳小春2008 最新華語專輯 獨家記憶

9首國語+2首粵語 11首全新單曲

所有失戀一族齊聲推薦

繼風靡全台星光幫指定情歌 「我愛的人」後

又一深情催淚曲「獨家記憶」

陳小春國語專輯【獨家記憶】
雙語類動物陳小春 華語棲地春夏當打
第一主打<獨家記憶> 再打<難朋友>
三打Jordan、小春同台對唱<好難好難>

陳小春向來鍾愛國語歌曲，在台灣做專輯的時間更令他愛上做國語專輯的過程。【獨家記憶】國語專輯以雙語出?共11首新歌，當中有兩首廣東歌<我不是偉人>(<獨家記憶>粵版)及<好男人>(<難朋友>粵版)。小春表示:「一向都好喜歡國語歌，因為音樂同歌詞的配合好有畫面，歌詞簡單直接去講一個故事。唱片的過程好好玩，第一次同李安修合作，大家一齊Brainstorm，開懷溝通。大碟的策劃此次由唱片公司作主導，相信他們的專業選擇。」

歌曲簡介

國語版<難朋友>、廣東版<好男人>

同樣是一曲兩詞，由陳國松作曲，李安修監製，國語詞由李安修親自操刀，廣東詞則由香港詞壇新人陳詩慧挑起大樑。整首歌曲感覺舒服，小春靜靜輕柔的唱腔?出好男人的悲傷與憂愁。

「<好男人>，一個好男人雖然得到好多人的盛讚，卻往往被人當作朋友，好男人的稱譽就像詛咒一樣。公司看好<好男人>這個歌名，於唱K的地方由一定有不少男人點唱給個女聽。」 -----小春

A vision in his music

A vision in his music - Customisation is the key for VI Music, director Lester Low tells TAN SEO YEAN

Business Times, The (Singapore) - March 18, 2008

PERSONALISED service for every customer's needs - that's the business philosophy driving VI Music, a music publishing and production house.

'I want to provide good service to my clients - really personal, where they can have warmth,' director Lester Low said in a recent interview. Such a strategy, or the lack of it, has helped VI Music build up a pool of regular customers and students who stuck with Mr Low and his partner, Liu Zhiwen, when VI Music shifted its premises four times to date.

Started in 2003 with minimal investment as a music publishing house, VI Music acted as an agent for composers. Realising the slow returns of the business, VI Music extended its services to music production where composers and writers of the company do song demos and recording in the company's in-house studio. Other than composing and demo-making, VI Music also branched out into training people in unplugged singing.

VI Music has a small team of two instructors while Mr Low deals more with the operational aspects of the business like administration, marketing and accounting.

As a small start-up, it attracts its customers usually by word-of-mouth, by virtue of the good service it provides.

'We very much customise all the requirements of our students and customers,' Mr Low said. The current 80 students at the company are allowed flexibility in attending their courses.

He said: 'The students can take a break from the lessons if they have to go overseas and resume when they come back. They just have to arrange with the instructor. I want my students and every member of the company to be comfortable with each other.'

Mr Low believes that the close relationship shared between students and instructors is also essential for successful collaborations.

During the frequent gatherings at VI Music, the composers can look for suitable collaborators like demo singers and lyricists, rather than being paired up to work with someone else.

In fact, Mr Low places such importance on the 'synergy' in the company that he had to make sure all his instructors 'bond with our family' before working with them.

VI Music (which stands for 'vision in music') did not start off well. The company could not have survived, if it wasn't for the passion Mr Low and his partner have. Mr Low said: 'In any creative industry, passion is really what keeps you going. Without passion, we would have given up long ago.'

Business started to pick up only in 2005 when both founders gave up their jobs to devote their time fully to their passion. 'If you don't leave your comfort zone, you will always be relying on something,' Mr Low said. He had a diploma in engineering and decided to quit his logistics day job, leaving him with no other income to rely on.

He said: 'When I became a full-timer here, I started to think of plans and strategies, any ideas I could use to bring in the sales. That's how we actually pushed ourselves to the next level.'

It was not an easy decision for Mr Low to quit his job and make his passion his career. Singaporeans are brought up to be practical; they are realistic, he said.

Mr Low held on to a make-or-break mentality when working to boost the company's profile.

And it helped. The company's revenue grew by 80 per cent from 2003 to 2005 and it started to make money last year.

But Mr Low is always looking for opportunities to improve. 'When people ask me how I'm doing, I always reply, 'could be better',' he said.

Recognising that the market is already saturated with music courses catering to young people who are also star-wannabes, Mr Low wants to focus on a niche market of corporate customers.

He said: 'I think everybody loves singing; it's just that some dare not sing. But n! ow everyone in the market is targeting teenagers, the superstar kind of thing, or the aunties and uncles who like to sing karaoke. One segment is being neglected - and that is the corporate sector. They may need to entertain clients in karaoke lounges. Thus they will be more confident about singing if they pick up a few techniques from us.'

Joint projects VI Music also works with institutions like Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and the National University of Singapore (NUS) in music composing competitions and regularly holds seminars to share their experience in composing as well as in dealing with the intellectual property (IP) of the songs they compose. 'It's like seeding - people usually come back to us much later,' Mr Low says.

Indeed, most of the students and composers at VI Music are fresh graduates who go back to them after they have started earning money. VI Music also signs up the top ten compositions at an annual NTU music composing competition, hoping to market them to recording companies.

Through the recommendation of a friend, VI Music clinched a deal to work with Aviva for their dinner-and-dance in 2006. The company sent its staff for preparation courses before their performance. Some of the staff at UOB and members of the NTU alumni also became VI Music's customers after collaborations with the company.

But Mr Low reckoned that to clinch deals with corporations is not easy for his small company.

He said: 'It was so difficult to get any networking just by cold-calling the companies. But I keep trying. Hopefully, I can convince the human resource departments to tap on the recreation funds of the company, for their staff to come here where they can learn to sing and at the same time relax and bond with each other.'

And, to prove his point that his company is willing to customise its unplugged singing courses for customers, he said that his company once customised its courses for a group of Buddhist monks to help them to chant 'in pitch, in timing'.

Despite the challenge, the instructors at VI Music are willing to provide handwritten music scores to the students. 'As long as it is music, melody, I think we can work it out. We focus more on the theory aspect,' Mr Low says.

Other than taking care of his customers' needs, Mr Low also takes care of the team of composers working with him. With exclusive 3-5 year contracts, VI Music works closely with its team of composers.

Mr Low said: 'We want to take care of our writers. We want to make our writers feel that they are wanted. That's why we push their songs aggressively. When their songs are sold in the market, they are very happy. I am also very happy - just like seeing your son get married.'

Index Terms: Special Focus

Record Number: 11F7C011273CE430

Copyright, 2008, Singapore Press Holdings Limited