KUCHING: A person who only appears once in a youtube video performing a song cannot be considered as an artiste.
This was the opinion of Malaysia’s iconic rock legend Datuk Ahmad Azhar Othman who is popularly known as Datuk Awie on social media platform “celebrities”.
The 51-year-old lead vocal of rock band Wings sat down with New Sarawak Tribune to share his views on the dilemma of the music industry in the country which seems to have loopholes in giving the so-called social media artistes a pass to jump on-board.
It is no doubt that there is a mushrooming trend of talents from social media platforms such as youtube, Facebook and Instagram, to name a few.
One cannot compare with the globally known pop singer Justin Bieber who was first discovered from youtube before he was signed with a licensed music company and made hit albums ever since, Awie opined. Justine Bieber aside, he also believed the recognition for youtubers with a single video song appearance and then called artistes as being overrated.
“We cannot consider youtubers as artistes. If they have one song and we consider them as an artiste for that, then that is too much and I totally don’t agree.
“They must have at least one studio album in order for them to be called artistes. If they cover one song, got famous and defined as artistes for it, I call it is really a nonsensical joke. It is unfair for the other artistes who have to climb up their way from the bottom.
“Wings, for instance, have been working hard and paving our way up in the music industry for 35 years, so if a person who gets famous for a song which is not even theirs through a social platform is dubbed as popular artiste, I cannot agree with that,” he said in an exclusive interview with New Sarawak Tribune last Tuesday.
“What about us? We have gone through a lot to climb our way up, including putting up with some bans issued by government, suppressions on radio plays and television shows. There were times when rockers’ hair needed to be cut just for us to obtain the permit to hold concerts. Does this means our efforts would turn to waste over a viral video?” he questioned.
He also suggested that the song associations nationwide should at least consider putting a requirement of having a full album in order for the newcomers to be dubbed as artistes.
“We should adhere to the normal procedure such as 10 songs in an album, not another artiste’s song, not just a single song. If they can produce one album, then we can consider them as artistes,” he stated.
Awie was in Kuching to attend a private function with Wings Motor Gang Society (WMGS) Kuching Chapter. He is also the president and the founder of the umbrella organisation which has expanded beyond the country to Thailand, Brunei and Singapore.
