Chet Lam 林一峰

I'm struggling between to write this post in English or Chinese... I think I can express some feelings better in chinese but when it comes to some term he was explaining during the workshop, I think English will be easier... so conclusion as you can see is in English...

Well, I get to know Chet Lam from a colleague who listens quite vividly to his music... but since most of his music was in Cantonese i din't really pay much attention to them.. on and off i will hear my colleague singing his song to himself in the office... but tat is all i know about him... i know he writes some songs to but if you ask me i seriously can't remember which... the first song that really makes me remember him (like most other pple) is 遇見.. I like both the chinese version and his own English version recorded in the "True Colors"... apart from that i know nuts about him.. din't even noe his English name was Chet... don't even noe how he looks like... :P

But i still went to his workshop on saturday afternoon.. cos i'm curious about him.. hahaha.. actually i don't even know wat the workshop was about.. i was just curious about him tats all.. cos he seems to be a very smart person... because he said this "I don't believe in Fan Club, but Community"... this is the first time i heard such words coming from an artiste... so i'm very curious about him... so off i went to his workshop and i was glad i make it there although i was super late....

I think the highlight i get from his workshop was about the term "product". Somebody ask him how he define "product"... cos somewhere in his writing he mention about how pple now is treating music as a "product" to be sold... so how does he differentiate that his music is not a "product"...

From what i understand (please correct me if i'm wrong cos he was mumbling and i din't manage to catch everything he says), he is saying his own music can in the end become a "product"... in tat a CD is a "product" to be sold... he don't denies that he is selling his music for a living.. so to a certain extend his music is a certain kind of "product"...

But there are different kinds of "product"... some pple are selling their name, their packing and their branding rather then their music... They are being packaged into an idol.. pple remembers their face more then their music... if you take away all their packaging and marketing they are nothing (he even quoted this famous group from HK.. hahaha)... while there are others who make music because of their passion for music... pple listen to their music rather then their marketing or name, etc... this kind of music is music that will last... years later pple will remember your music will remember you.. but for those marketed "products" they will earn big money now.. but as time move by, nobody will remember what they sing before.. nobody remembers their song... of course he classify himself to be of the 2nd kind.. which is making music that last...

i do agree with him.. but i think the common problem is in the beginning you may be making music to last, however, as time moves by you can but be more or less converted to a marketed "product"... why? because you become famous... like now for Chet Lam himself... i get to know him because of his song, yes... but because of this song i tend to lookout for his other songs.. because of his name.. rather then just because of the music.... so inevitably i think they more or less become a byproduct of being famous or when ur music gets well received... this is sad but true...

i think the same applies to MD... those who likes them years back started off liking their music.. not because of the packaging (do they have a packaging in the first place when they started??)... however, as time goes by, they got famous... some pple listen to their music because they are mayday... so recording company has to package them and give them a good branding... all these are byproducts of music being well received... its so 矛盾. U don't want pple to listen to your music because of who u are but because of the music itself... however pple are bias.. this is just so hard to happen when pple already fall in love with your music.... its so hard to be subjective... for me am still trying to be subjective to MD and to whichever artiste or singer... but of course i can't but i'm trying....

well back to chet lam.. he also mention that as a song writer, you should write what u want to write.. and not write what others told you to write... he mention that he was being requested by producers to write music catered to a particular artiste so it allows them to project their plus point 避短揚長. However, he finds that this is not the correct method of writing music... u shld write what u feel and not wat others want.... even if the song is not being used by others just continue to write... sometimes u even have to fool urself into thinking that its not that nobody want but rather it has not found a really good owner.. in the time to come the song will meet a really good singer who can bring the song to a higher level....

this is chet lam... so real.. so perservering in his dreams for music.... you can visit www.chetlam.com to find out more information about him....

oh.. i also found something from his site which i find it interesting...
Q: Does Chet encourage music download?
A: "Downloading is inevitable these days, but if you hear something you like, go support it, buy it.
Yes.. i think this is the correct attitude that pple should adopt.. not only us listeners but also the artistes... stop asking pple to stop downloading cos nobody will listen.. but encourage pple to buy the music if they really like it...