Those were the days

With technology and consumer behaviour continuing to have a dampening effect on Thailand’s music industry, it’s only natural that the big players in the game should start to fight back and this they did in spades over the last 12 months. 

Both GMM Grammy and RS Public have created new strategies for the digital music business. Grammy is now working with AIS, the country's largest mobile operator, and KK Box, a Taiwanese cloud-based music service provider, to provide music streaming in Thailand, as well as with YouTube to promote its bands.

The tactic is paying off too, with Grammy earning the most hits for an official account in Thailand on YouTube at 100 million views per month. Music streaming and video sharing are the new hopes for music creators, Grammy stresses, not physical music products.

RS is also using YouTube but says it is wants to focus on live music, which continues to be popular. 

“It’s true that the music business deteriorated further this year but looking at the situation positively, there are many more people listening to music because of the greater choice of channels,” says Soopachai Nilawan, senior vice president for RS Public’s music business. 

“We’ve adjusted our business strategy and integrated it with other media businesses. We continue to produce music and artists and make every effort to add spice by arranging unusual collaborations. The Gybzy Girly Berry and Baitoey video as well as the one of Timethai and Kratae got more than a million views on YouTube and luk thung artist Chai Muangsing’s old hit ‘Mia Phi Mee Choo’ featuring Baitoey and Ja R Siam was a major hit. We’ve also organised several sell-out concerts including ‘Kamikaze Dance Neramit’ and ‘Khid Thueng D2B’.”

That’s not to say that some concerts by local stars weren’t affected by the political turmoil in 2014. However, unlike international shows, most were postponed rather than cancelled outright. 

Among those held until further notice were GMM Grammy and A-Time showbiz’s “Sam Yak Pak Wan Episode 3”, Nantida Kaewbuasai’s “The Show Must Go On”, and Thongchai “Bird” McIntyre’s “Khon Nok Kap Dokmai The Original Returns”.

For its part BEC-Tero postponed Saksit “Tor” Vejsupaporn’s “Pianoman Concert (007 Notes)”, Boom and Boom Entertainment put off “The Memory Concert: Kwam Rak, Kwam Songjam, Kwan Khid Thueng” while, with a curfew in place, the X Sexy Beach Party Concert at Ocean Marina Yacht Club in Pattaya, was also postponed.

Two concerts unaffected by the coup and which had been expected to bring in big money, were spectacular flops. 

The first, Seksan “Sek Loso” Sukpimai’s large-scale concert in celebration of his 40th birthday, had been expected to fill the Rajamangala Stadium, Hua Mark with 50,000 eager fans but drew less than half that number and filled virtually none of the Bt5,000 seats. Wide gaps yawned in the Bt2,000 seats and in the cheaper amphitheatre areas. Part of the failure to launch was put down to Sek’s very public break-up with his wife Wipakorn on the social media.

A bigger shock though was the sudden cancellation of Bodyslam’s “Dharmajati” nationwide tour less than halfway through its 32 planned shows around the country.

The tour had the ambition of bringing arena-style rock to the masses outside Bangkok, but it was a money-losing proposition. Had it continued, it would have cost the company Bt60 million. “Even though we've stopped now, we still lose Bt30 million,” Yuthana “Ted” Boonorm, managing director of Gay Ray, an affiliate of GMM Grammy, told The Nation after pulling the plug.

Yuthana, the brains behind such successful events as the now defunct Fat Fest and the still popular Big Mountain festival, said his mistake lay in not properly planning the ticket prices, which had been set at Bt1,500. The tour, he added, had been doomed from the start with less than half of the 5,000 tickets set aside for upcountry venues sold, though both the shows in Bangkok and Pattaya were sold out.

And even though it wasn’t the band’s fault, the cancellation has inevitably cast a shadow over Bodyslam’s decade-long career.

However, some concerts did draw fans in the thousands this year – most of them reunion affairs bringing together voices from the past. Sponsors, alerted to the fact that audiences nurture nostalgia for the sounds of their youth, were also generous in their support.

 “Legend of Retro” by the Palace and Friends, a group of artists who made it big in the 1970s and ’80s from The Innocent, McIntosh, Forever, Inca, Khiriboon, Ploy, and Royal Sprites, sold out within a matter of hours.

Middle-aged fans also flocked to “Yesterday Once More” a retro music festival held in Hua Hin headlined by The Palace and also featuring such blasts from the past as The Beatle Nuts, Uthen Prommin, Tuangsit “Kung” Reamchinda, Somprasong “Tum” Singhuanwat, Nuvo, Byrd & Heart, Fruity, Billy Ogan, Sao Sao Sao, Warunee “Uan” Suntrisawad and Direk “Too” Amatayakul. 

And the lads are coming back for more, with a full-length concert titled “Restage” scheduled for January 17 at Impact Arena.

Other sold-out reunion concerts starred younger singers, with the “Khid Thueng D2B” event bringing back two of the three members of RS Public’s most popular boy band ever –Worrawech “Dan” Danuwong and Kavee “Beam” Tanjararak. Their colleague, Panrawat “Big” kittikorncharoen, was sadly left in a coma after a car smash and never recovered.

Patiparn “Mos” Pataweekarn proved he’s retained his fan base by packing out Royal Paragon Hall for a celebration of his 25-year career with pals Sunisa Sukboonsung, Tata Young, Somchai “Tao” Khemklad, Songsit “Kob” Roongnophakunsri and Saksit Tangtong.

Two more reunion concerts are still to come. Tonight Triumph Kingdom, Niece, H Project, Mr Sister, Oil Shocking Pink, and B5 featuring Chalatit “Ben” Tantiwut, Suveera “Q Flure” Boonrod, Uthai “Cake” Poonyamund, Mariam Alkalai and Saksit “Tor” Vejsupaporn, mark the 10th anniversary of DojoCity with “LoveIs Special Dojo-B5 Super ‘Ting’ Homecoming Live” at Impact Arena, Muang Thong Thani while tomorrow Chatree “Ohm” Kongsuwan along with Christina Aguilar, Peter Corp Dyrendal, Mr Team, Palmy, Teerapat “Tui” Sajjakul, Sakda Pattasima, Chawin “Jug” Chitsomboon, Sunita “Beau” Leetikul, and Y Not 7 celebrate 10 years of the RPG record label at the Thunder Dome in Muang Thong Thani.

And making more of a return than a reunion, those vinyl records that almost disappeared after CDs were introduced made a comeback in 2014. A surprising number of LPs were manufactured here and quickly snapped by young listeners.

“Vinyl records have become very popular the world over though I don’t expect them to do so well here,” Bun Suwannochin, managing director of Baicha Song, told The Nation earlier this year.

Grammy Big’s managing director Nitthiwat Chenchedsada was enthusiastic about the long players.

“The return of vinyl clearly demonstrates that people want to listen to good quality sound,” he said.

And despite the fact that vinyl is still a small segment of the music business, now major and independent labels – GMM Grammy, Baicha Song, Spicy Disc, V Love Vinyl, LoveIs and Sony Music – are increasingly opting to reissue and release their new albums on vinyl, even though it's expensive to do so.

They too have come to realise that today’s music fans are seeking tangible experiences and crave the interactive experience that vinyl offers over the passive experience offered by the MP3. After all, one of the most significant differences between records and other formats is the sound quality.