THE BIRTH OF I-AMTVA lot of questions have been asked already, what is i-amtv? Why independent? And many other questions, both valid and ridiculous. I guess now is the time to answer these questions.
What is i-amtv?
i-amtv is the region’s first music channel dedicated to serve the best of Independent Music with a touch of foreign content. This channel offers a wide selection of music genre from pop to rock, punk to grunge, world to ethnic and many more. i-amtv was formed through the collaboration of European and Malaysian companies over a bottle of Guiness. (I'm kidding again) I have a story about that but we will get to that later.
Why independent?
Being in the music industry ourselves we saw the struggle of bands especially the undiscovered bands or what we call the independent scene. Most bands have the right talent and material already but they are often taken for granted or maybe we can say that they are ignored.
Initially i-amtv was formed to support indie artistes/bands/musicians, etc. from Asia and across our region (thus the name Independent Asian Music Channel) but as soon as the word got out about i-amtv. Bands from beyond Asia started writing in, expressing their interest to have their material aired thru us. So we decided to add foreign content on the channel which goes to say that the support for i-amtv is not just from Asia but from the all over the world.
How did the name i-amTV came about?
This is the story about the bottle of Guiness. The managing team sat down and cracked their heads. We were all having a headache. Some people think that coming up with a name for a company or a TV show or even a band name for that matter is easy but believe me its not as simple as it seems to be. I am sure some of you out there know what I am talking about.
Now you’ll know why I mentioned Guiness, we decided to get a bottle of beer, “clean our heads”and freshen up and because of this “creative session” the name i-amTV popped out straight after. As soon as this name was out, we stopped trying.
Now if I were to give a prize for the question of the year, this one is the winner!
Question of the year: "Is this a porn channel?"
Answer: "Are you stupid or what? How can this be a porn channel when the stuff given to us are from people like you (the bands), unless the video you will be giving me is a PORN MUSIC VIDEO"... (and we all laughed - he/she is a friend of course)
And then what happened after?
The next task was to find the bands, the musicians and this was no joke, nor anywhere near a walk in the park. Yes they were easy to find, since the indie scene is upon us and is fast becoming a way of life for most musicians. The thing is, although they were quick to respond, (They will email us, expressing their interest, “we will do this…”, “we will submit these…”) They (indie bands) were no more faster than snails gathered through a prayer procession in acting on it. Hence the term “indie lay back syndrome” an attitude that can cause the downfall of a promising band.
The same goes for being late on rehearsals, showing up doubly late on gigs and this is something that remains to be a problem not only in the indie scene but on the mainstream as well. The so called “Rock Star Attitude”, which is something that i-amtv hopes to change in the future.
On a lighter note, we did it! We found them, thanks to bands like I-GO, Deja Voodoo Spells, Couple, Cozzi, One Buck Short, Jason Lo (and all at Fat Boys Records), Love me Butch, Twisted Machine, Firebrands, An Id Signal, Suck Stuff, The Breathing, Lin Clover, Carpe Diem from the Philippines and many more bands.
So after we gathered all the content we needed. We decided to kick things off by launching i-amtv at the Hard Rock Café in Makati , Philippines . One of the haven for the independent scene in Asia . We brought 2 Malaysian bands there and they rocked the stage with their Filipino counterparts and it was an amazing night full of independent music!
And then what happened after?
The next task was to find the bands, the musicians and this was no joke, nor anywhere near a walk in the park. Yes they were easy to find, since the indie scene is upon us and is fast becoming a way of life for most musicians. The thing is, although they were quick to respond, (They will email us, expressing their interest, “we will do this…”, “we will submit these…”) They (indie bands) were no more faster than snails gathered through a prayer procession in acting on it. Hence the term “indie lay back syndrome” an attitude that can cause the downfall of a promising band.
The same goes for being late on rehearsals, showing up doubly late on gigs and this is something that remains to be a problem not only in the indie scene but on the mainstream as well. The so called “Rock Star Attitude”, which is something that i-amtv hopes to change in the future.
On a lighter note, we did it! We found them, thanks to bands like I-GO, Deja Voodoo Spells, Couple, Cozzi, One Buck Short, Jason Lo (and all at Fat Boys Records), Love me Butch, Twisted Machine, Firebrands, An Id Signal, Suck Stuff, The Breathing, Lin Clover, Carpe Diem from the Philippines and many more bands.
So after we gathered all the content we needed. We decided to kick things off by launching i-amtv at the Hard Rock Café in Makati , Philippines . One of the haven for the independent scene in Asia . We brought 2 Malaysian bands there and they rocked the stage with their Filipino counterparts and it was an amazing night full of independent music!
A lot of 'things' happened that night, and I can’t wait to share it to you. I am really excited about what’s happening and what we’ve accomplished so far… There is so much more to share…
Stay tuned until next post.
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3 comments:
This is great! My band played at their launch here in the Philippines and we sure loved the concept! I can assure you that the indie scene here in the Philippines has got your back, we will definitely support this. I can't wait to read the next post!
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