TALENTS FOR ASIA NEWS: FILIPINO BANDS FOR HIRE

TALENTS FOR ASIA NEWS: FILIPINO BANDS FOR HIRE

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TALENTS FOR ASIA NEWS: WHAT THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY MEANS FOR MUSICIANS

TALENTS FOR ASIA NEWS: WHAT THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY MEANS FOR MUSICIANS

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EQUALITY - MISSING IN THE ASIAN MUSIC INDUSTRY

EQUALITY - MISSING IN THE ASIAN MUSIC INDUSTRY

It is really amazing how we have now become like one huge neighborhood via the internet as well as its many social sites like facebook even, We are evolving and moving forward but yet for those of us who work with the entertainment industry, we find certain sectors of the industry lacking evolution and growth or even  maturity. In example and really the main point being or rather question being, Why do clients pay or agree to high fees for musicians who originate from Europe, America, Eastern Europe and well generally the rest of the globe ACCEPT for musicians from Philippines and Indonesia?

Somehow when a Asian or even Middle Eastern club owner or Hotel Manager is proposed a Filipino band he won’t pay more then 700 USD – 900 USD per month at best, but when he is proposed an American Band or any European Band, he will pay up to 1,500 USD - 3,000 USD per month? , Now in the case of product Strength, The Filipino music community has it all, looks, showmanship, vocal talents, as well as some pretty outrages dancers, and so do the American bands and Eastern Europeans As well, but yet the Filipino and also Indonesian Musicians are place at such a low level and this sets the stage for a price war between the various music agencies and music promoters.

Quality becomes a non-issue and the band for hire is only valued by its nationality. We at Talents For Asia are not hitting at anyone, but we are calling for EQUALITY and proper evaluation of the particular band for hire’s talent and quality before placing a cap on the salaries. It does not matter if they are black, brown or white, yellow, green or pink skinned, they all bleed RED BLOOD. Maturity and mental aptitude to grow the bands for hire industry is really lacking in Asia and there is so little vocal noise from the various agencies and music promoters or providers simply because they are all to happy to just follow the ball and get fat of other people’s sufferings,

Economies all over the world are either growing or falling, either way the cost of living has increased significantly in Asia, now with the increase of daily goods, don’t you think bands for hire from Indonesia or  the Philippines should be viewed in a different light and also be fairly priced based on their musical ability? They are Indonesian and Filipino bands for hire which can take any American, British, European band, Infact they can turn them upside down, but still employers look so low on these nationalities that they are practically stepped on by the industry.

As Asia’s Premier Web Based Live Music Provider, we would really like to appeal and ask employers to please stop looking down on the abilities of Filipino and or Indonesian bands for hire, If you are viewing a band and being charged 1,500 USD per month per head, then there has to be quality in it and it has to be exceptionally on International standards. Pay them because they like you want to educate their kids, they like you have parents to feed and care for, they like you live in homes and not on tree tops, It is time that the mental attitude towards people from poor countries change.

We are all in an industry that provides a service the world lives on, yet we behave like vultures feeding on a rotten carcass when we condole and are apart of jobs where you know the band is good and deserves 1,500 USD per person per month, but is only being paid 850 USD per month, simply because they are a Filipino or Indonesian band for hire, Talents For Asia has also during its journey seen this attitude when promoting Romanian bands and also some times Colombian bands. There will always be that one agent or promoter who will take the low paying jobs just to turn a buck and that’s ok, but if you’re dealing with a low paying job that the right thing to do would be to provide a band that is looking for its first step on the touring circuit. A band that has more then 5 years of performance experience deserves a salary of at least 1,800 USD per person per month.

Doing the right thing for bands for hire can be an expensive ideal and could hurt the particular employers bottom line, however, nobody ever said being right was cheap and easy, that’s why its always the applauded way to go. Talents For Asia calls on all employers to please be more mature, fair and compassionate towards all musicians globally, What bands for hire do is not easy, the very fact that they leave their families and have to travel so far, is already emotionally taxing.

Talents For Asia is not hitting at any one individual or company, but generally expressing its views on what is been seen as not the right situation and would like to call for change when it comes to all types of bands and or musical acts for hire. Pay them well and you will see your bottom line grow a lot bigger then when you paid them less. Why? Because they are happy and they have less worries about how they are going to feed their families at home, which in turn allows them to focus 100 % on the job at hand. Its just as simple as that.

A troubled mind is not a creative mind and a non – creative mind is not a profitable mind to work with… by Asia’s Premier Web Based Live Music Provider.

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TALENTS FOR ASIA NEWS: EQUALITY - MISSING IN THE ASIAN MUSIC INDUSTRY

TALENTS FOR ASIA NEWS: EQUALITY - MISSING IN THE ASIAN MUSIC INDUSTRY

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WHAT THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY MEANS FOR MUSICIANS

THE ARTICLE BELOW IS FROM MUSICIANSWAGES.COM AND AT TALENTS FOR ASIA ARE IN TOTAL AGREEMENT WITH THE WRITER


by DAVID J. HAHN

Two years ago, I wrote an article about finding work in the midst of the recession. Part of the advice I gave was to focus on building clients at schools and churches, as they seemed to be the only institutions surviving the financial crisis.

It’s time for some new advice.

Now, certainly, I’m no economist. I took one, required, econ class in my whole life and I spent most of it looking pretty glassy-eyed. I can only tell you what I’m seeing in my own career and you can tell me in the comments below if you are seeing the same.

The Five Employers of Musicians

There are 5 basic employers for musicians.

1. For-profits (i.e. corporate gigs, cruise ships)
2. Non-profits (ballets, symphonies)
3. Individuals (weddings, parties)
4. Education (schools, universities)
5. Churches/synagogues

As soon as the recession hit in 2007 (it came early in the arts), the first three on that list took a big hit. In 2008 I was working a sweet guest performer gig on a big ‘ol cruise ship in Hawaii. Then one day the act got canned and replaced by a juggler. They said one juggler was cheaper than the seven of us. That’s showbiz for you.

Once the recession came in earnest in 2008 non-profits in the arts started closing up shop. Famous theaters from California to Akron to New York closed their doors for good between 2008 and 2010. Nearly every symphony orchestra in the country took a pay cut, including untouchables like the Chicago Symphony and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. The Honolulu Symphony folded altogether and the Charleston Symphonywas nearly turned into a community band. Eleven Broadway shows closed in late 2008, taking 150 musician jobs with them.

It got pretty ugly. I’m sure you remember.

Run and Hide

Many of us, myself included, retreated into academics and churches. They seemed to be the only organizations hiring musicians at the time. Before the recession hit I’d never played a church organ in my life, but when a church gig opened up in the Bronx in 2008 – you bet I learned!

I also landed an accompanying gig at NYU. It was a great gig and NYU – a university as big as a municipality – seemed too large to be impacted by the recession.

As I said, I’m no economist.

In late 2009 it was clear that universities were losing the value of their endowments at an alarming rate. Eventually this loss of equity began to impact the number of accompanist positions as well. See? Trickle down works.

Churches held on much longer, but eventually they have also felt the hit. The Archdiocese of New York recently announced the closing of 32 schools, and a list of church closings is bound to follow.

The Recovery

The end of the recession was announced last year by people smarter than me, so I suppose we should believe them. The guys on Wall Street are certainly back to making money.

Economic indicators, like the recent increase in consumer confidence, seem to suggest that we’re in the middle of the recovery, even if unemployment is still at 9%. Obama is prodding the private sector to start hiring again (they’ll need to make up for all the public sector jobs that are about to be liquidated with the new budget…).

Predictions

So what does this mean for working musicians? Here’s my updated advice:

• With the slash in the federal budget that’s almost certainly going to come out of our new congress, I suspect we’ll see more cuts to arts funding in public schools. Couple that with the school closings that churches are facing, and we have a looming arts education crisis.
  My prediction, though, is that the private sector will take up (some of) the slack here. If schools decrease or lose their arts programs, after-school programs, arts camps and private teachers will see an increase in business. In my work I’ve already seen an increase in teaching gigs for these kinds of supplemental arts education programs.
• Did you see that consumer confidence is at a three-year high? Christmas sales at the big retailers did pretty well, too. That’s good for us.
  For this reason, and the one I just mentioned above, now is the time to start building your teaching studio back up to where it was before the recession. Read our article onstarting your teaching business. Greg wrote some great advice in that article, and I suspect your hard work will get more traction this year than it did in the last 3 years.
• Remember the 5 employers I mentioned above? I think the first 3 are starting to come back (for-profits, non-profits and individuals). Here’s the thing though – they are coming back, but different.
  My grandparents lived through the Great Depression. Like many that lived through that time, they had an amazing talent for saving money and planning for the future. Their lives were forever colored by the difficulties of the Great Depression.
  The Great Recession has taught our generation lessons as well (topics like: What is a subprime mortgage and how can it ruin your life?). I think the post-Recession costumer is going to be more savvy and receptive to added value.
  So whatever your product is – your new album, lessons, a new concert series, etc. – I think you’ll get a lot more interest if you are able to raise it’s perceived worth with some kind of incentive. Try quantity discounts, hand-made packaging or access to members only content – or maybe something no one has thought of yet?
• I think jobs with for-profit corporations are on their way back. Cruise gigs, tours, corporate gigs – I can’t prove it, but I think we’ll slowly see these gigs creep back into our lives over the next two years (right in time for the 2012 elections, how about that?). I know that I’ve started to get calls for the kinds of gigs I thought had gone extinct entirely: concerts, tours, new musicals, etc.
• The arts were one of the first sectors of the economy hit by the recession, and I think we’ll be one of the last to recover. I can’t help but feel that non-profits will take the longest to recover, as they are privy to the financial support, and whims, of both private and public funding.
  May the NEA and it’s (soon to be cut) budget save our ballets, symphonies and operas. Amen.

There’s Still a Long Way To Go

Again, the arts will be one of the last industries to recover fully, so while I think we can feel positive about our future – I know we’ll also have to wait patiently for it’s arrival.

I do think, though, that we should be using this time to build our businesses, careers and brands so that when the recovery does finally hit us – we’re ready to ride it as far as it will take us.

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FILIPINO BANDS FOR HIRE

FILIPINO BANDS FOR HIRE

Filipino bands for hire have been an on-going activity throughout the Asia Entertainment Industry for many years now. The reason for Filipino bands gaining so much headway in this industry is due to the fact that they have enormous talent and are very customer orientated in the sense that they will perform to the masses and they tend to take request from customers, The thing that makes them stand out is, A Filipino band will learn a song so that the next time a customer comes back to the venue they can make the customers night, this is an effort that very few musicians put forward as they tend to have their own play list and follow what is there.

The effort to learn new songs come only when it’s a chart topper, but to go all out to please the minority is really not a priority. Thus Filipino bands for hire is a trend that has captivated hotels, bars and various entertainment venues throughout Asia for more then a decade now. There is also a growing trend of Eastern European musicians that are now breaking out and some Canadian and American as well As British bands that venture into the Asian markets, However the ever popular Filipino band for hire still dominates the market and still until today sets the trend and tone of performances Asia wide.

There are some venues in Germany that have experimented with Filipino bands and even some in Switzerland, But their dominance continues to take Asia by storm, Filipino bands are also a very big culture now in China as their Entertainment industry is growing on a daily basis, Although the budgets and legal employment process can be improved, cost is a huge factor that at times hinders the process of legalities.

It has been Talents For Asia’s advocacy to call for legal employment of Filipino bands and it has also been Talents For Asia’s SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) to reject employment offers that do not include proper legal methods. Filipino bands are an asset to any venue that hires them and can truly make the posh night club feel like home even if they are playing in Taiwan for example. Its their pleasant nature and will and determination to put on a good show as well as coupled with their raw talent that makes them the leader of the Asian industry.

Filipino bands for hire also do so well because of their strong ability to sing English chart toppers in similarity to the original celebrity musician rendition. Talents For Asia being a promotional platform for all types of musical acts, be it Filipino bands, European bands or even British bands finds that most musicians regardless of nationality have their own individual identity and brings a variant show to each venue.

This is why, at Talents For Asia we can also help potential clients create a unique set up different from other venue based on the clients needs, The first choice musicians have always been the standard Filipino bands, but in today’s market even as the Filipino band scene still keeps a strong lead over other nationalities, European and south American musicians are also making headway and are slowly becoming a force of their own.

Talents For Asia believes that the fad of the Filipino bands for hire will not fade away any time soon and as such continues to work with Filipino bands to promote them, thus at the same time promoting proper employment methods which are deemed legal by the Government of The Philippines as well as the contracting clients country. As a promotions hub for musicians in Asia, Talents For Asia can only advise and try to advocate at its best, due to the fact that its not a management agency that signs employment contracts and or management contract. Talents For Asia is an internet based platform for musicians to reach their potential employer, thus all contractual obligation are directly between employer and musician. This is some thing that makes musicians and bands from Philippines and all over the world happy because they are in full control of their own career and can manage and trouble shoot without the interference of a what would be agent or agency.

Filipino bands for hire, Romanian bands for hire, Latin / South American bands for hire, British bands for hire or even American bands for hire, we have it all and welcome talents who wish to be on our platform.

For any and all inquiries, Please Email – talentsforasia@gmail.com

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WHY WORK WITH TALENTS FOR ASIA

WHY WORK WITH TALENTS FOR ASIA

In today’s entertainment industry, many clients are looking for the best deal in terms of price, quality in performance and the so call X factor in terms of looks of the band for hire. The front line has to have a certain appeal and the rhythm section for live bands has to be strong and play clean as it is said in our industry. Having the total package as a band for hire allows musicians to gain work constantly no matter what nationality they are, as most contracts in Asia for hotels run from three (3) to six (6) months and in Korea they can be for one (1) year.

Talents For Asia understands that being a promotional platform for bands and or musicians for hire is being able to be a bridge that allows the client and the particular band for hire to attain the best deal possible. To elaborate; the musicians seek simple yet safe and comfortable accommodations, decent food and internet connection with laundry provided. All these request are reasonable considering they work six (6) days a week and the job can take its toll on them, thus having some creature comforts only allows them to perform better as their mental state is always focused on the job when everything else is taken care of.

Bands for hire generally don’t demand if they are Filipino bands for hire, they are pretty happy to work with what is offered but only stress on minimal creature comforts to ease the stress and demands of the job. Talents For Asia, works in tandem with the client to reach the best possible arrangements within all legal frame works to ensure that both parties are in a winning situation.

Unlike other agencies where the agency fee can go as high as an additional person’s salary or even thirty percent (30%) of the total contract value, bands for hire at Talents For Asia’s platform can be booked with no cost to the client. This is because at Talents For Asia we charge the musicians a maximum of One Hundred (100 USD) United States Dollars per person per month and not more then that. We do this as a way to ease the burden of potential and current clients when it comes to the bottom line.

Why we charge the musicians is simply because we are a promotional platform for the Musicians, and they only pay Talents For Asia when they go to work and for the duration of the contract to which they have been hired for, this also includes any and all extensions on the contract. Talents For Asia is not a full agency and as such does not provide any financial support or aid to bands it promotes as the contracts of employment are signed between employer and employee directly. However Talents For Asia does follow up weekly or by – weekly on the welfare of the bands for hire and thus provides advice and consultative solutions to help the client understand the position of the particular band for hire  as well as to help the musicians understand the position of the booking client.

This service thus changes the booking industry for musicians and bands for hire because it dramatically reduces the cost to employing clients as well as provides musicians with a wider avenue to get hired. To provide a simple analogy, Talents For Asia is striving to become what Job Street is to the general employment market. Talents For Asia simply focuses only on Entertainment. Thus bands for hire need not worry about having to be tied down with a long contract when working with Talents For Asia as there is only a commission agreement to be signed when the band is gainfully employed and it last for the duration of the contract. This helps reduce also liabilities of the musicians as the said band for hire will not fell obliged and or in debt to Talents For Asia.

It is our hope that our service will eventually be come recognized beyond the boundaries of Asia and providing bands for hire globally will bee the future of this Internet Based Service Brand.

For More Information, Please Email - talentsforasia@gmail.com

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