My 'TVB Rant' #28: Wow, just....WOW: TVB's bullying taken to new heights.....

TVB did something this past week that I'm so pissed about, I have to write about it to vent my frustration (as if I haven't written about it enough already in various discussion forums and such, lol).

Anyway, the big entertainment news from this weekend was the huge fallout (second one in less than a decade) between record company Universal and TVB over copyright terms for using Universal artists' songs on TVB programs feature on their Internet channels (i.e. myTV, myTV Super, TVB.com).   The way it works is that the record companies give TVB contracted rights to use their artists' music/songs for a period of 3 years and after that, the contract gets renewed if both parties agree on the terms.  Well, TVB's latest contract with Universal expired on 5/1/16 so both parties got together to discuss contract renewal as they've been doing for the past few decades.  TVB sent Herman Ho - the head of their own music label Voice Entertainment - to discuss contract terms with Universal's higher ups (I'll explain in a minute why I have a problem with this arrangement in the first place) and departing from usual terms, this time around, TVB put in a requirement that is at the same time ridiculous and impossible to fulfill.  TVB basically requested that Universal sign over the exclusive rights to use their artists' songs FOREVER (yes, you read it right - the word used was FOREVER!) - which meant that TVB could continue to use Universal copyrighted songs in any program they feature on their Internet portals even after the contract terms are up without having to worry about getting copyright approval (which implies that they don't have to pay Universal royalty fees) and also that Universal can't allow other stations to use those songs.   Universal of course said HELL NO (kudos to them!!!) and decided to not renew their contract with TVB (lol...the Universal execs reacted quite professionally - if it were me, I would've told Herman Ho to go to hell!)  Based on the contract terms, TVB has 3 years from expiration date (so 4/30/2019) to either remove all Universal copyrighted songs from their Internet programs (which of course would be a lot of work) or take down the affected programs from their Internet portals entirely (note that these terms don't apply to programs aired on TVB's regular free-to-air channel).  So basically, TVB was once again trying to be the arrogant bully that they are but this time, it backfired on them because Universal refused to bend to them.

I don't think any of us need to be rocket scientists to understand what type of impact this is going to have on the HK television and music industries.  Herman Ho claims that TVB still 'welcomes' all Universal artists to participate in their programs provided their appearance doesn't violate contract terms (meaning there is no singing / music involved), however knowing TVB's track record, that is pretty much lip service, as we all know that TVB is petty and will now be 'banning' Universal artists just like they did during the royalty dispute 7-8 years ago.  Besides, who the hell gave Herman Ho the right to speak for TVB as a whole when he's only the head of their record label?  Oh, that's right - his wife is Sandy Yu, who, on paper, is only the head of the variety programs department (and is at the same level as Catherine Tsang, who is head of the drama department), but in reality, she is the actual one 'in power' at TVB now.  Go figure!  The fact that TVB sent Herman Ho to negotiate with a fellow record company is conflict of interest first of all (since both are heads of rival record companies) and it also reeks of insincerity on TVB's part -- if TVB CEO Mark Lee felt it was beneath him to negotiate with a mere record company, then at least send one of the GMs who oversee all production to negotiate with Universal...after all, the outcome of the talks will for sure impact all of TVB's programs, not just music-related ones.  With this arrangement, TVB already started off on the wrong foot (though to be honest, I'm not sure whether this was a deliberate move on TVB's part to "pay back" Universal for opposing them so many times over the past few years or the current execs over at TVB are just dumbaxxxs who have no clue what they are doing....I personally think it might be a combination of both).  The reason I threw that 'pay back' thing in there is because Universal's execs said that they've had the same contract with TVB for decades and the discussions have always gone smoothly, but this time around, TVB dropped that "forever" clause on them out of nowhere, which is what caused the discussion to go sour (why the sudden change in terms, TVB???)

The latest 'development' in this absurd saga is that as of yesterday, TVB (um, actually Herman Ho - but I guess he represents all of TVB now) was "crying a river" to reporters, claiming that Universal was the one being "unreasonable" by forcing TVB to take down/remove Universal copyrighted content within 3 years.  How INSANE is that????  TVB is the one who started the dispute by putting forth a RIDICULOUS to the max requirement that NO ONE in their right minds would agree to - now when Universal says NO and proceeds with terminating the contract as per terms, TVB is trying to make themselves look like the victim by shifting the blame on the record company instead?  WTF?  Oh, but it gets better....in the same "crying a river" interview, Herman Ho goes on to contradict himself by saying that the 'impact' of this dispute to TVB won't be much at all, as 'only a handful of programs will be affected' (yeah, right!!!!).  Um, if only 'a handful of programs' is being affected, why the bloody hell is TVB (via Herman Ho) trying to shift the blame to Universal?  Herman Ho is actually outright lying, as it's obvious to anyone with a brain that the impact of this is going to be huge, especially since the copyrighted songs date all the way back to the 80s/90s (which includes all the songs under Polygram, which Universal bought out in the 90s).  Even TVB's former GM Stephen Chan said that he hasn't been paying much attention to the details of the issue, but he knows for a fact that if TVB has to remove/take down all copyrighted programs, that will definitely be a huge problem for them.  With Universal being one of the largest international record companies out there with practically half the HK music industry signed to them (including many of the industry's 'biggest names' such as Alan Tam, Jacky Cheung, Hacken Lee, Sandy Lam, George Lam, Eason Chan, Kelly Chan, etc.), it will obviously be TVB's loss if they don't rectify the situation and proceed to 'ban' Universal (as is widely speculated).  Universal definitely does not need TVB, as they have a plethora of other options and platforms to promote their music (including TVB's rival free-to-air station ViuTV - which they already have collaborations with - as well as the cable networks and of course, internet platforms such as Youtube).

To be honest, I am actually a bit surprised that TVB would make such a bonehead, stupid move at such a sensitive point in time when their reputation is already in the toilet, their production quality is at an all-time low, artists and behind-the-scenes people are jumping ship left and right, and their own in-house produced singers (the Voice Entertainment crowd) are being heavily criticized for lacking actual singing skills.  Also, in this day and age, with all the technology and resulting doors that have opened up with Internet platforms, there's no way that TVB doesn't know that the record companies have tons more options than they've ever had in the past to promote their artists' music.  Does TVB really think they are that 'high and mighty' as to demand that the record companies collaborate ONLY with them and forego all other opportunities to make more money?  What record company would be stupid enough to cut off a large part of their revenue source just so they can cater to TVB's ridiculous whims?  (Ok, ok, I know that there ARE some record companies out there who would be willing to do it because they are so pro-TVB...not that I'm going to name names though, lol).  What planet are these TVB execs living on?  Like I said in another forum - either Herman Ho is deliberately trying to sabotage TVB's relationship with other record companies in order to boost his own record label or TVB has gotten to the "arrogant beyond saving" stage where they are stupidly flexing their power to see who will bend to them without giving a crap about the consequences.

Lastly...I don't think it's lost on anyone reading this that there will be one more 'consequence' that none of us HK television fans want to see happen:  the television screen for the next 3 years (and perhaps beyond that) will essentially be 'dominated' by Voice Entertainment singers (argh, please kill me now...) and the JSG awards ceremonies will go back to being "the EEG + Voice Entertainment Music Awards".  TVB just gave me more reason to stop watching their programs!  I swear, TVB is slowly chipping away at the small circle of 'support' that I still have for them - if it weren't for the few artists and behind-the-scenes people I care about still working for TVB, I would've abandoned this station a long time ago.

Words of wisdom to TVB from a long-time 'follower' (me - though of course, not that TVB gives a damn, lol):  Stop testing our patience with the arrogant attitude and pettiness!  Despite the fact that you have let us down time and time again, many of us still continue to 'support' you to some extent because of sentimentality (and other) reasons.   Stop taking advantage of your audiences' goodwill and stop treating everyone like brainless sheep who must adhere to your every beck and call.  Let ATV be a lesson on how NOT to manage a TV station (though looks like it's too late for this one) because if you fall, it will be 100 times worse and the damage will be far-reaching....

News Article: TVB attempts to save its music programs through ‘ice-breaking’ dinner with record companies

I read the below article in Mingpao Weekly over the weekend and since it contains some info that might impact the HK music industry, I decided it would be appropriate to share it here.

I personally don't have much opinion on the music-related changes that TVB is planning on rolling out next year, since I stopped caring about the HK music industry for close to a decade already. Most of the singers I like are veteran artists from the 70s, 80s, and 90s and if/when they release new music, I have my ways of finding out and supporting.  Yes, I still do listen to newer music from the younger generation, but not as much compared to in the past...plus I don't follow most of the newbie singers anyway.

My only comment on the article below:  the part that annoyed me big time was Sandy Yu once again 'boasting' that they (TVB) came up with the idea of having a unified awards ceremony and that they are all for this idea, but the other 3 media companies shot it down.  Well, I will tell you that what Sandy said is B.S.!!!!!   TVB was NOT the one who came up with the unified awards ceremony thing -- in fact, they weren't even supportive of such an idea until about a year or so ago!  The veteran singers -- such as Jacky Cheung for example -- were technically the ones who first suggested that HK should do a unified awards ceremony...in fact, Jacky had heavily pushed for this about 5 years ago and would talk about it at practically every interview.  But all the media organizations (TVB included) were vehemently opposed (most likely because they would lose whatever benefit they got from keeping it separate).  At that time, TVB even went as far as 'boycotting' Jacky because he kept pushing the unified awards thing (though there were other reasons too, such as Jacky saying that alot of the music programs don't respect the singers because they cut off their performances among other things -- indirect jab at TVB, since they were notorious for doing this...plus there was the royalty dispute, since he belongs to one of the record companies that was at odds with TVB).  I don't have a problem with TVB realizing they were stupid not to support the unified awards ceremony thing and therefore are now changing their tune -- but for them to take the credit for 'coming up with the idea' and bragging about it constantly and then worse yet, making themselves seem all high and mighty and the other 3 media stations look like jerks for refusing to cooperate with them...to me, that is utterly ABHORRENT!!   If I hear TVB brag about this again, I swear I am probably going to strangle someone over there...argh!! :-(

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TVB attempts to save its music programs through ‘ice-breaking’ dinner with record companies

Source:  Mingpao Weekly, Issue# 2445

Original article published September 18, 2015

Translation: llwy12

In recent years, due to losing many of its first-line actors and actresses, TVB had to cast newcomers in lead roles in more of their series while continuing to watch the ratings for their programs fall.  At the same time, TVB’s music programs have also suffered a significant decline.  Ever since the royalty dispute 5 years ago with the big 4 record companies (Sony, Warner, Universal, and EMI), TVB’s relationship with the record labels has been shaky.   As a result, TVB’s music programs as well as their JSG awards ceremony have lacked significant star power the past few years, which has not only made their programs less attractive, but also severely reduced their impact [on the music industry].

Seeing this, TVB took the initiative to put together a dinner this past Wednesday (September 16^th) to ‘break the ice’ with the record companies.  As host of the dinner, TVB’s director of variety programming Sandy Yu (余詠珊) invited the management teams from all of HK’s record companies, whether big or small, to attend.  At the same time, Sandy Yu also took the opportunity to update those present on TVB’s latest projects related to music as well as roll out a few policy changes resulting from this.  With this dinner, TVB hoped to continue their long-standing contribution to the music industry while at the same time garner some ‘goodwill’ and support for their own music programs.

Three weeks ago, Sandy Yu had already contacted the executives at all the record companies to invite them to the dinner.  Since she took on the position of programming director for TVB’s variety department at the height of TVB’s royalty dispute with the big 4 record labels, this would actually be Sandy’s first time meeting with all the record company execs.   At first, a few of the record companies thought it was odd and were hesitant about attending, however when they heard that some of the major record labels’ execs -- such as EEG’s Ng Yu (吳雨) as well as East Asia’s Chan Chi Kwong (陳志光), etc. – had already confirmed their attendance, they proceeded with plans to participate.  With that said however, Universal Music’s top exec Duncan Wong (黃劍濤) did not attend the dinner, instead sending representatives in his place.

As host of the dinner, TVB arranged a 6 table banquet for the close to 70 execs in attendance.  Though technically one of the goals of the dinner was to have all the execs mingle with each other regardless of record company, the seating arrangements indicated otherwise.  At the first host table,  Sandy Yu was responsible for attending to the execs from Sony, Warner, and East Asia while her husband Herman Ho (何哲圖) – CEO of TVB’s newly formed in-house record company The Voice Entertainment Group (星夢娛樂有限公司) – hosted the execs from Universal and EEG at the second table.  The execs and representatives from the rest of the record companies were seated throughout the remaining 4 tables.

Internet popularity can qualify a song for JSG

According to those who were in attendance, Sandy Yu revealed at the dinner that TVB would be implementing 2 policy changes in the coming year.  Paraphrasing Sandy Yu’s speech at the dinner: “It’s been quite some time since we’ve gathered together for dinner – thank you to all of you for your support and attendance.  During times like this, the music industry needs unity and needs all of us to work together to make the industry better.  With this goal in mind, we (TVB) will be creating 6 to 12 additional channels in the coming year and also establishing an online TV station to support more music-related programming.  As a result, there will now be 2 new ‘policies’ if you will.  In the past, singers had to be backed by a record company and have a certain amount of name recognition in order to qualify for a spot on the JSG charts.  With the new policy, as long as a song gets recognition by listeners – for example it gets a lot of hits on the Internet – it can still get a spot on the charts; once on the charts, it can then be in the running for JSG seasonal selections and the year-end awards.”  Sandy Yu cited music queen Sammi Cheng (鄭秀文) covering Phil Lam’s (林奕匡) hit song High Mountain, Deep Valley (高山低谷) as an example – Sammi’s version, though not an official release, was popular on the Internet, so we shouldn’t underestimate the impact of these types of songs.  One of the attendees at the dinner revealed that the ‘no show, no award’ rule was brought up and TVB confirmed that, similar to before, if an artist does not attend the award ceremony, they will not get an award.

JSG Awards will take place earlier

The other change in policy involves TVB’s youth-oriented J2 channel.  Sandy Yu indicated that there have been many new singers to emerge in the music industry the past couple years, so they wanted to give these singers a platform to promote their music, whether through airing their MVs or participating in actual music programs.  TVB also indicated that they welcome any feedback from the record companies on the possible ideas to promote the artists under their labels – in addition, they hope to collaborate with the record companies to produce programs revolving around these artists, which will also be a different direction from the past.   Another project that the J2 channel is working on will be to produce a younger version of TVB’s current music variety program Sunday Songbird (Sunday靚聲王).  Sandy indicated that she welcomes any feedback the record companies may have on this project.  It is said that TVB intends to explore OTT set top broadcast format next year, which means that their cable channels and their free-to-air channels will be combined into one package in the near future and sold at a low price to local television audiences.  Therefore, TVB needs to produce more new programs to prepare for this move.

In terms of the annual JSG Awards ceremony, TVB revealed that this year, the show will be broadcast on December 20th instead of in January as in the past – this would make JSG the first of the big four music awards ceremonies to take place this year.  In addition, TVB8’s music awards ceremony, which takes place on January 17^th, will air on TVB’s Jade channel [their regular free-to-air channel] this year.  Sandy Yu indicated that she has already contacted overseas singers from other countries who are working on clearing their schedules so they can come to HK to attend.

Indifference toward new changes

Despite TVB taking the first step to break the ice, the record companies’ response toward the new changes seems to be one of indifference due to doubts about TVB’s intentions.   According to sources present at the dinner, there were a lot of concerns and questions raised about TVB’s new ‘policies’ – for example, someone asked why it was necessary for a singer whose song had already become a huge hit over the Internet to go on JSG and promote their song all over again?  Others brought up credibility concerns with basing awards on number of Internet hits, as it was easy for people to rig the results by increasing their number of hits.  Still others felt that TVB’s new system is backwards – what the music industry truly needs right now is for everyone to work together to make good quality music, not for people to get on the sensationalism bandwagon and rely on gimmicks to increase hit count.

Also, it was mentioned that in addition to the Internet, there are currently many options for singers to promote their music – for example, both i-Cable and NowTV have produced a lot of music shows the past couple years – so there isn’t tremendous concern about the lack of promotional platforms for singers.  Besides, the big international record companies that had lost TVB as a promotional platform the past couple years due to the royalty dispute have still been able to increase their own artists’ popularity and job offers (examples cited were Pakho Chau, Shiga Lin, Kelvin Kwan), which proves that singers can still survive in a different environment.

A sore point that was not even mentioned during the dinner was the issue that had brought about the whole royalty dispute between the big 4 record companies and TVB 5 years ago.  At the time, TVB had taken their JSG program and released it on DVD as well as VCD, however they did not pay the artists involved or their record companies the royalties that should have been due to them from the sale of those DVDs.   Due to this issue not even being acknowledged at the dinner, a few of the record company execs felt that TVB was trying to use their artists to garner support and hype up their own music programs.

Sandy Yu responds:  It was merely a ‘reunion dinner’

 Afterwards, we contacted the dinner’s host, TVB’s variety program director Sandy Yu, to ask about this ‘ice-breaking dinner’ with the record companies.  She responded:  “It was merely a reunion dinner.”  Towards the earlier royalty dispute that caused TVB’s relationship with the record companies to turn sour, Sandy denied that there was any negative impact to their relationship:  “Actually, the relationship never turned sour, it’s just that a few of the international record labels viewed the issue of copyright and royalties differently than we did.  They [those record labels] were only willing to grant us 2 years [license agreement for artists’ songs], which was way too short.    From a business standpoint, we were not able to come to an agreement, but we continue to negotiate and in recent years, there has been increased discussion on both sides – the record companies have been very understanding.”  Sandy emphasized that the dinner gathering was planned over a month ago and the atmosphere that night was actually quite good.  In fact, some people didn’t want to leave and even suggested that they should do these dinners every quarter to facilitate more communication between the record companies and TVB.

As for this year’s JSG Awards being held on December 20^th instead of January the following year, Sandy clarified:  “We are instituting a voting system this year, as we want everyone in HK to get the chance to participate and choose what music they like.  Since we (TVB) were the ones who started the ‘one person one vote’ system [TN: reference their Miss HK pageant several years ago], it makes sense that we should hold our music awards show first instead of last.   Actually, we (TVB) had once suggested having all 4 media organizations [TVB, CRHK, RTHK, Metro Radio] collaborate together on one unified awards ceremony so that there would be a ‘true’ music king and queen each year – we even volunteered to put money into producing the show, but the other media organizations refused, so we gave up on the idea.”

Voting system doesn’t truly reflect audience’s choices

Despite the ‘one person one vote’ system being implemented for JSG, someone at the dinner mentioned that with the rule of ‘no show, no award’, it still won’t be the true will of the people.  Towards this, Sandy expressed:  “Every year, we never say that an artist who doesn’t attend can’t get an award.”  Asked whether each award category will be subject to voting, Sandy clarified that it would only be limited to certain categories:  “The voting will only count for a portion.  There will also be an audience survey that we’ll be doing, which we’ve already hired a third party company to help us with -- they will call audiences up to ask for their feedback and those results will be incorporated for certain categories.  Actually, we tried to think of every possible method we could come up with.”

Towards the sentiment that some people felt this new system was TVB’s way of saving their own music programs while also attempting to boost the popularity of their own newcomers, Sandy denied and stated: “Why would we want to shoot ourselves in the foot like that?  In order for the music industry to truly prosper, the entire entertainment industry needs to prosper as well, otherwise it’s useless.  We truly do want to contribute more to the music industry and produce more music programs to support this cause.  To be honest, I don’t even have a budget for this, since making music requires time and patience, both of which we are willing to invest.”

One of the attendees at the dinner, hehA Music company’s representative Kawaii expressed her thoughts on what she observed at the dinner:  “It was a nice gesture, as it had been a long time since all the record companies last gathered.  The atmosphere was actually quite happy and comfortable.  While it’s true that there are many platforms for singers to choose from nowadays, TVB is still one of the biggest platforms so their influence can’t be ignored.  Actually, these types of dinner gatherings aren’t bad, since it allows everyone to share their opinions.”  Asked about her opinion toward TVB’s new policies, Kawaii stated:  “For us, things don’t change much, as our artists never had to sign a singer’s contract in order to appear on TVB’s shows.  The way it always worked is that we would sign a ‘pink paper’ agreement and that was it. [TN: the ‘pink paper’ is essentially a copyright release agreement that authorizes TVB to utilize the song in their productions and also sell overseas].  Besides, most of the artists under our management are overseas singers not based in HK, so the impact is not as great.”

BLAST FROM THE PAST: 1985 JSG Awards – Opening Music Segment

In a few of my recent posts, I had mentioned the general sentiment that the quality of TVB’s series has declined drastically over the years and there are very few series worth watching anymore.   Well, the same sentiment applies to TVB’s variety programs as well.  Ok, actually, on second thought, the situation with TVB’s variety programs is actually worse than what’s been happening with their series.   At least with their TV series, I can still find a handful of series that are either ‘worth watching’ or I’m willing to sit through (however begrudgingly) in order to support certain artists I may like (though technically, nowadays I just watch certain episodes or scenes and skip the rest of the series)….with their variety shows however, I’ve pretty much lost all motivation to watch.

Growing up in the 80s and 90s, TVB’s variety shows used to be ‘must-watch’ events for me back then.  From JSG to Miss HK to the annual charity shows and of course the anniversary galas, all were grand events where the ‘big’ stars (as well as the ‘not-so-big’ stars) would usually all be in attendance.  Every minute of each show was truly worth watching and it was so easy to be drawn in to the point that I would pretty much do nothing except stare at the TV screen for an hour or two.  Even their specialty programs, game shows, documentaries, etc. were excellent and worthy of watching regardless of whether well-known / popular celebrities were involved or not.  Anyone here remember TVB’s flagship variety program E.Y.T. (Enjoy Yourself Tonight)?  That program served as a ‘launching pad’ for many of HK’s biggest stars, as it gave artists – especially newbies – a platform to showcase their talent (whether in acting or singing) and hone their skills (I personally feel it was especially beneficial for actors/actresses, as they got to ‘practice’ their acting skills by participating in various skits in front of live audiences every night).  E.Y.T. was one of my favorite variety programs back then, so you can probably imagine how sad I was when it ended back in the mid-90s (note:  I’m referring here strictly to the ‘original’ E.Y.T. program that lasted from 1967 to 1994, NOT the ‘failed’ revival attempts of the program that TVB did in the late 90s and once again in the mid-2000s era). 

It’s a shame that TVB is no longer capable of making good variety programs anymore.  Yes, part of it is the lack of talent, but a lot of it also has to do with TVB’s own antiquated policies and ‘modus operandi’, especially where music-related programs are concerned.  This is why TVB has not been able to draw any star power into its music programs for at least 10 years now.  Of course, I don’t blame the big name stars, as I wouldn’t cave in to TVB’s restrictive policies either if I were them – I mean, why limit yourself to only appearing on TVB and be forced to speak only Mandarin in all non-TVB interviews when there are so many media platforms/options to choose from nowadays, especially as it pertains to music?

Anyway, the reason for my post is actually to share the below video (my ‘intro’ above was intended to set-up for this video clip, but I ended up ‘venting’ again about TVB – sorry, couldn’t help myself..LOL).  This video clip is an excerpt from TVB’s 1985 JSG Music Awards.  For those who might not be familiar with how the awards ceremony worked back then (can’t speak to whether it’s the same thing now since I stopped watching JSG more than 10 years ago), the ceremony always started with a huge musical number where all the artists with nominated songs would sing snippets of their songs – think of it as a huge 15 minute remix segment.  Well, the below clip is that ’15 minute remix’ – the intro segment to 1985’s JSG where all the nominated artists who attended sang a few lines of their songs as a refresher for audiences (even those who didn’t attend got to ‘sing’).

In watching this clip, I was of course super-excited -- it has been a long time since I watched the 80s era JSG awards (that’s the next ‘binge re-watching marathon’ that I intend on doing after I finish re-watching all these old 80s/90s era TVB series that I’m doing currently), so getting to re-live that moment was absolutely awesome!  And of course, since I’m familiar with all the songs that were nominated (ah, 80s Cantopop – boy do I miss it!!!), I couldn’t help singing along for the entire 15 minutes (gosh, can’t even remember anymore when I felt the urge to sing along to a TVB music program!).  With that said though, I must admit that part of me was a little bit sad at the same time – one reason of course is because I miss those stars who left us already (Anita, Leslie, Danny), but the other reason is because of the dismal state of the HK music industry nowadays (and the dismal state of the entire HK entertainment industry as a whole).  It definitely makes these ‘nostalgic’ moments worth treasuring, no matter how fleeting they may be….

So, for the next 15 minutes, sit back and enjoy this ‘blast from the past’ (or if you’re an ‘old-timer’ like me, you might feel the urge to stand up and actually sing/jam along to each song and have your own personal karaoke session for 15 minutes…LOL).  For convenience’s sake, I also posted the song list underneath the video clip (wow – they actually sang 40 songs in the clip….it went by so quickly, I didn’t even realize they were actually able to cram all 40 nominated songs into the opening segment!).  And yes, in case you were wondering, I DID go back afterwards and pull all 40 songs from my music collection so I could re-listen to the full versions, since only listening to a few seconds worth in the video wasn’t enough in my opinion.

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**Video credit to cyberwarrior**

Song list:

1) 十分十二吋 - 林子祥

2) 愛情陷阱 - 譚詠麟

3) 此刻你在何處 - 譚詠麟

4) 蔓珠莎華 - 梅艷芳

5) Smile Again 瑪利亞 - 張學友

6) 愛情組曲 - 張學友、鍾鎮濤、蔡國權

7) 誰可相依 - 蘇芮

8) 不羈的風 - 張國榮

9) 少女心事 - 張國榮

10) 情已逝 - 張學友

11) 200度 - 葉蒨文

12) 等 - 陳百強

13) 空凳 - 夏韶聲

14) 雪山飛狐 - 關菊英、呂方

15) 愛不是遊戲 - 蔡楓華

16) 邁向新的一天 - 梅艷芳、李中浩

17) 為你而歌 - 甄妮

18) 日本娃娃 - 許冠傑
19) 壞女孩 - 梅艷芳

20) 雨夜的浪漫 - 譚詠麟

21) 玩的格言 - 譚詠麟、彭健新

22) 長夜 My Love Goodnight - 葉蒨雯

23) 夢幻的擁抱 - 梅艷芳

24) 淚之旅 - 鍾鎮濤

25) 再坐一會 - 鄺美雲

26) 第一次 - 張國榮

27) 全賴有你 - 張國榮

28) 深爱着你 - 陳百強

29) 花店 - 陳慧嫻

30) 你令我快樂過 - 呂方

31) 聽不到的說話 - 呂方

32) 順流逆流 - 徐小鳳

33) 辛運星 - 譚詠麟

34) 情是永願着迷 - 譚詠麟

35) 輕撫你的臉 - 張學友

36) 我願意 - 張國榮

37) 每一個晚上 - 林子祥

38) 從未如此深愛過 - 呂方

39) 暴風女神 Lorelei - 譚詠麟

40) 最緊要好玩 - 許冠傑

SCMP Editorial: Is TVB’s Jade Solid Gold Top Ten awards the blueprint for universal suffrage?

I actually got a kick out of reading this article so I figured I’d share it with everyone.  Why did I get such a kick out of it, you ask?  Well, because the article echoes my sentiments exactly when it comes to the topic of music awards in HK.  The part I found the most interesting is that the writer of the article compares the JSG voting thing to the universal suffrage debate currently going on in HK right now – I actually didn’t think about it in that light, but when it’s put in that context, the writer is absolutely correct (those who have been following the universal suffrage discussion in the news will probably understand the writer’s point of view). 

Of course, since the article is an editorial, take it for what it’s worth – whether people agree or disagree with the sentiment that the HK music industry is ‘dying’ (or, for some people, it’s actually already ‘dead’), that’s not really the point.  To me, the point of this article is to highlight the pathetic state that HK as a city / nation is in right now…though I guess in a sense, for us die-hard Hong Kongers, this also serves as yet another ‘depressing’ reminder of what our once beloved city has become.  Sad….

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Is TVB’s Jade Solid Gold Top Ten awards the blueprint for universal suffrage? 

Source:  SCMP

Written by Vivienne Chow at SCMP

January is the music awards season in Hong Kong. They were big deals back in the days when Alan Tam Wing-lun was in tense competition with Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing in the 1980s and the Four Heavenly Kings – Andy Lau Tak-wah, Jacky Cheung Hok-yau, Aaron Kwok Fu-shing and Leon Lai Ming – ruled the 1990s. But ever since these super stars went tired of these games, and those who could barely sing the right notes became the new stars in the early 2000s, Canto-pop was dying. Few people care about these music award shows in the past five years or so.

Strange enough, attention to music award shows has resurfaced this year. It’s not just because Eason Chan Yik-shun shocked the crowd when he looked to his iPhone screen for lyrics and gave a performance that was worse than karaoke upon receiving the top awards (best male singer, album, etc) at Commercial Radio’s Ultimate Song Chart Awards Presentation on January 1. At the height of political debates over universal suffrage and Occupy Central, people began to compare these pathetic music awards shows with the political status of Hong Kong.

For those who aren’t familiar with the music awards shows (well, I never attended or covered them as, unlike the Hong Kong Film Awards, which is organised by an industry association and voted by the industry, these music awards have little credibility), Hong Kong has four major music awards organised by four media companies – Metro Broadcasts, Commercial Radio, RTHK and TVB. Every year, Metro Broadcasts hands out over a hundred awards to almost anyone in the showbiz. Commercial Radio’s awards have better reputation as it claims the awards are based on airplay but this means DJs and station management have a high chance to manipulate the results. RTHK...I don’t know what the criteria are. Just like how Hong Kong is run, these are simply no transparency. Perhaps they don’t need to as the awards are just another show, and they don’t have to be accountable to the audience.

TVB’s Jade Solid Gold Best Ten Music Awards Presentation, on the other hand, attempted to be accountable to the public but at the same time, many netizens argued that the TVB show was a preview of what 2017 universal suffrage might look like.

This year Jade Solid Gold followed Miss Hong Kong and The Voice of the Stars to bring public voting on board. Those who pre-registered with TVB online could vote for a number of awards, including most popular male and female singers as well as the song awards.

The game was “universal suffrage” in principle – you were allowed to vote as long as you have registered. But the problem is, many netizens argued, there weren’t that many choices available.

It turned out that only singers who have contracts with TVB (and turn up for the night) were allowed to participate in the race. This meant singers like Eason Chan, who is currently the best loved singer in Hong Kong and has won almost all the big awards at other awards shows, got banished from entering the TVB race. The remaining contracted male singers who fulfilled TVB’s requirements were either too inexperienced irrelevant – seriously I cannot name one single song by Raymond Lam Fung (but he won the most popular singer award with 30 per cent votes). Joey Yung Cho-yee won the most popular singer award for the ninth time in a row with 58,815 votes (well, 85 times more than CY Leung’s 689 votes).

TVB might have played transparent, but the screening process made the awards an unfair race by squeezing out the capable ones who deserved to win. If the Jade Solid Gold award is the blueprint for the 2017 so-called universal suffrage for Chief Executive, be prepared to struggle with choosing among a range of B to C-list candidates if you are stuck in Hong Kong by then.

Meanwhile, G.E.M. Gloria Tang Tsz-kei simply couldn’t care less about the stupid Hong Kong showbiz games and ventured into China. The young Canto-pop singer became an overnight singing sensation on the mainland after appearing in mainland reality show I’m A Singer, winning some 200,000 new followers on her Weibo after the first show. Hong Kong? Forget it. The real fame and cash on mainland matter more to some people.

News Article: Mingpao Exclusive Interview with Sally Yeh -- 15 year marriage similar to riding a roller coaster; husband George Lam encourages her return to the music industry

Here's a great article about one of my favorite singers from the 80s/90s -- Sally Yeh!

Enjoy!

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Mingpao Exclusive Interview with Sally Yeh: 15 year marriage similar to riding a roller coaster; husband George Lam encourages her return to the music industry

Source: Mingpao Weekly, Issue 2255

Translated by: llwy12

Despite this past year’s JSG Top Ten Awards Ceremony results being heavily criticized by practically the entire nation, there was one particular highlight of the entire show that was welcomed by all audiences – former Canto-pop Queen Sally Yeh (葉蒨文) leading the group BOY’Z and singer/dancer Tat Dik in a special performance of her classic hit “Believe in Yourself” 《信自己》. Not only did her performance cause all the artists present to give her a standing ovation, it also provided HK music fans with a treasured memory.

Entering the year of the Dragon, many former music industry ‘kings’ and ‘queens’ will be returning to the stage to perform for HK music fans – Sally Yeh will be among them! During this exclusive interview with Mingpao, Sally took the opportunity to officially announce that in September of this year, she will be collaborating with Peter Lam’s East Asia Entertainment Group (EA) to hold a concert at HK Coliseum. After her last concert in 2005 (which she collaborated with the HK Philharmonic Orchestra), Sally has been ‘hibernating’ for the past 7 years, rarely appearing at public events – even during the times when rumors about her marriage to singer George Lam being ‘on the rocks’ were especially strong, Sally never bothered to come out and explain or respond to the rumors. This year (2012), HK music fans got the rare opportunity to once again enjoy the Canto-pop Queen’s beautiful voice – not only that, Mingpao Weekly also had the rare opportunity to sit down with Sally and understand on a deeper level her 15 year marriage to George Lam.

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Sally Yeh and George Lam married in 1996; in 1998, after the conclusion of their special “George Lam / Sally Yeh Good Luck Concert”《林子祥葉蒨文好氣連場演唱會》, Sally left the music industry temporarily. In 2002, Sally released a new album and in 2004, she held a series of concerts to commemorate her 25th year in the music industry – however, after her concert collaboration with the HK Philharmonic Orchestra in 2005, Sally once again ‘disappeared’ from the music industry. All this time, the outside world thought that Sally had ‘retired’, however during our exclusive interview, Sally expressed that the word ‘retirement’ never once crossed her mind: “Back then [after the 2005 concert], I just felt that it was the right time for me to stop and rest. Perhaps because as I started to get older, my thinking matured and I started to slowly realize that we only have one opportunity to live life – given that reality, I started to think about what I really wanted to do while alive in this world and came to the conclusion that I really wanted to learn more things and enrich my life. I’ve been very lucky all these years to have a career of my own that has enabled me to pursue things that interest me – I really wanted to understand the various relationships between people as well as the complications involved with life in general. These past few years, I’ve read a lot of English books that talk about people and their relationships. I’m very happy that I’ve been able to continually increase my knowledge – these past few years have been very fulfilling and have really helped me to grow as a person.”


50 years old and feeling moved

Throughout the past few years, Sally has continued to receive countless offers from various organizers to perform at shows, so why did she choose to return only this year? Sally unhesitatingly responded that it had to do with her approaching the 50 year old milestone: “Before, a lot of people asked me when I would hold another concert and I would respond to them: ‘Maybe when I turn 50!’ because I thought that if I don’t do it by that age, certain ‘things’ would ‘falter’…haha!” (Falter? Your voice?) “No, my voice could be maintained, however I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to maintain my physical stamina and energy after turning 50. I always tell myself: ‘If I still have vitality and energy by the time I turn 50, I definitely wish to come out and see my friends and fans!’”

During her time away from the industry, Sally had also done much traveling around the world. She expressed that her encounters during these travels were another motivating factor for her return to the industry: “Since I didn’t appear at events much anymore, I thought that perhaps people would have forgotten about me already, but it turns out that wasn’t the case – no matter which country I went to, people seemed to remember me. For example, one time, during my travels to the U.S., I was eating at a very small café in an isolated area, a place where I thought no one knew me, yet people would come up to me and ask: ‘Are you Sally Yeh? Why would you come here to eat? I love listening to you sing! When will you come out and sing for us again?’ When I went to Thailand and Vietnam, it was the same thing! Even when I went out shopping, I would always get asked: ‘When will you sing again?’ At first, I couldn’t believe it – all of them have heard my songs before? They still remember me? I was extremely moved! Since there were people out there who truly wanted to hear me sing again, then I happily obliged!”

Asked whether her husband George Lam supported her decision to return, Sally replied: “Actually, he has been telling me to return for many years already! He always asks me: ‘Why don’t you come out and sing again?’ He has encouraged me all along; every time I watch him perform, I would always feel that I still have a passion for singing – perhaps at that time, I didn’t feel I was ready to return, but now, I’m definitely prepared!” Having been married for 15 years already, how does Sally maintain such a strong relationship with her husband? Hearing this, Sally laughed and asked: “Really? It’s been 15 years already? That long?” after which she replied: “Actually, it’s a bit of a mystery to me! In my opinion, how to go about maintaining a long-lasting relationship with anyone is a mystery in and of itself. The important thing is communication; perhaps for us, we’ve been able to maintain because of our mutual respect for one another – we mutually respect each other’s space, way of thinking, etc. and because we understand each other, we are able to show appreciation and empathy for each other.”


Ups and downs, but no separation

Over the years, Sally has developed a fondness for golf, which slowly turned into a fondness for badminton – asked about her hobbies, Sally immediately interjected: “Right now, my new ‘love’ is Latin dancing!” It is understood that Sally’s husband George does not share the same hobbies, so he never accompanies her to them: “Yes, that’s true! We each have our own hobbies and interests – he has his, I have mine – there’s no point in forcing them together! If there are things we can do together, we do it, but if there aren’t, then we pursue our individual interests.” Because Sally and George don’t share the same interests or hobbies, there have been many times over the years where rumors have surfaced about problems with their marriage. Asked directly about this, Sally graciously answered: “I admit that the rumors did affect me a little at first -- as a Buddhist, I asked a spiritual teacher in the past how I could go about changing what people thought about me. He replied: ‘You’re wrong to think that way! Don’t be concerned about trying to change other people’s way of thinking – instead, concentrate on controlling your own thoughts.’ That’s a good thing!” (When you heard the rumors at first, were you upset?) “Of course! Anyone hearing such things would be unhappy, but at least now, I don’t let the reports affect me. I have no way of controlling what other people think, so as long as I feel it’s not important, then I let it go. Responding to the rumors and trying to clarify would only make things worse, as it would give them [the tabloids] the opportunity to write even more stuff.”

Asked whether she experienced many ups and downs in her 15 year marriage, Sally candidly replied: “Yes! A lot! Our relationship is like a roller coaster, so there would be ups and downs – actually, many people’s relationships are like this. Of course, my temper has a bit to do with it as well – I’m a bit tempermental, emotional, and have a strong personality – especially working in this industry, we are bound to experience huge fluctuations emotionally, but….that’s what makes it fun! Haha!” (Ever encountered marriage crisis?) “Crisis? Risk? Every marriage has risk! I once heard about a survey that said for every marriage, there’s a 50% chance that the couple will remain together in the end – so that means for every marriage, there is an equal chance of separating or remaining together. I actually think it’s quite funny! To be honest, every relationship will have fluctuations.” (In the worse case scenario, were there ever any thoughts of separating?) “Didn’t go into that! Didn’t go into that conversation! Relationships are really about having affinity – if you have affinity with a person, then you will continue to be together, if there’s no affinity, then there isn’t. Of course, you still have to work hard at it and be willing to invest time – in the end, it depends on which path you want to take.” With that said, is Sally satisfied with her marriage at this period of her life? “I’m satisfied with everything! Actually, I’m the type who is easily satisfied – let me have a good sleep and I’ll be happy with anything!”
Appearing at the JSG awards ceremony again after so many years, Sally admits that she empathizes with the younger generation artists: “I’m happy that I no longer have to sit up there facing the audiences! I remember in the past when we attended the awards at the HK Coliseum – I would sit there nervous and cold, holding a warm water pouch and tissues, wishing I were at home! I also remember clearly how I would stress about whether I’d get a particular award or not. So when I see the younger generation artists now, I can definitely understand what they are going through.”

With regard to the Gold Song Gold award being given to Raymond Lam and causing heavy criticism, Sally replied: “Is Raymond Lam not popular? I thought Raymond Lam was very popular because back in the dressing room, people were repeatedly saying how popular he was.” (Have you heard the song 《Chok》?) “《Chok》? No! But I haven’t listened to any songs at all! Ha! In terms of the current generation artists, I admire Hins Cheung the most. Every awards show has different judges and criteria – the person who chose Raymond Lam must have done so because he/she really likes him. Back in the day, when I received the ‘Most Popular Female Singer’ award, I’m sure there were people who opposed because the other female artists – such as Anita Mui, Sandy Lam, Faye Wong, Sammi Cheng – were just as popular during that time as well. My thought is that there is only 1 award, so if you don’t receive it, don’t be discouraged – just because you don’t get the award does not mean you are not popular!”


George Lam ‘hides’ the good songs

EA has shown interest in working with Sally on releasing a new album this year, however she insists that she won’t come out with a new album until she has a good song for it. Many years ago, George Lam wrote the song 《零時十分》[“Ten After Midnight”] for Sally, which shot her to fame – with the advantage of being married to George now, why doesn’t Sally just have him write her a good song? Is it because of the ‘rumor’ that back in those days, George was only able to write good songs because he was unhappy [with his previous relationship] and now that he is married, all his inspiration is gone? Sally confidently replied: “No! That’s wrong! Actually, many years ago, I had discussed the same matter with Eric Kwok – that time, Eric had asked whether George is able to write songs any time he wanted to or whether he needs to be in a certain mood (for example, happy or sad). The answer is that George can write songs any time he wants – in fact, he has written many songs throughout the past couple years, it’s just that he has them ‘hidden’ somewhere. Why doesn’t he let me sing those songs he wrote? Because sometimes, when I listen to the song, I’ll tell him: ‘Hm, that song is not too good!’ – he’s probably mad so he won’t let me sing it, haha! But recently, he’s been working on re-writing a song that someone else sang before and it really took me by surprise because the song is really really good!” With the way Sally and George interact, how could this couple possibly be going through marriage problems?