Striking the right notes

The music business has taken a dive in recent years with Internet downloads allowing fans to acquire music for free, often at a massive cost to the record companies and to the artists themselves, yet paradoxically, the music-academy business is positively thriving with thousands of youngsters signing up in the hope of becoming successful recording stars.

 Gone too is the prejudice against performers that existed in Thai society even as recently as 20 years ago.

"It's generally recognised as a great career these days," confirms Nop Narongdej, CEO of KPN Music Academy. "If we count our students who have graduated and are currently taking courses at our academy, the total exceeds 100,000. We're now ready to extend the business and will have 10 franchises by the end of this year."

Ruangsak "James" Roychusak, managing director of Mifa, says his school is also booming.

"Not only is business growing by five to 10 per cent a year, but there's also more competition. Dance schools are doing even better because of the trends in the world's music market. The teenagers' idols these days are mostly artists from South Korea and Japan who can dance as well as sing. Now we're also looking at the dance school business," James says. "Currently, we have six franchises and there'll be more next year.

"When Mifa was first launched, it was a straight music school. Today, it's more directly aimed at supporting GMM Grammy. So, in terms of brand positioning, it's an entertainment academy," he adds.

Recent research from the Education Ministry indicates that fewer than 0.01 per cent of students attending government schools actually study music.

"Although it is a subject on the national curriculum, only a tiny number of kids of any age actually ever get to play guitar and piano because most schools lack a real music teacher. That gap has also contributed to the growth of private music academies," says Nop.

KPN mainly targets the pre-teens aged eight and up as well as teens, who make up 60 per cent of the academy's students. Adults aged 25 and older make up 16 to 17 per cent, with the under-eights accounting for the rest.

"Only a few of them actually aspire to be true artists in their field. Most are just interested in music and they enjoy hanging out, especially at our Siam Square branch. Their heroes are Ajarn Prode [Thanapat Mathayomchan], Nueng Jakkrawal and Nueng ETC," says the KPN CEO.

"I always tell students that the music market doesn't need Golf-Mike 2 or Palmy 2 but new guys. Artists can be inspirations but that's all," says James.

Nop says KPN's strongest points are its curriculum and the stringent standards it applies to its instructors.

"All our instructors must pass through KCI-KPN Certification. They are evaluated for teaching at the beginning, middle and advanced levels and given different coloured cards by our committee. We are very serious when it comes to teaching quality. Of the more than 1,000 teachers who applied for work with us last year, only 80 were sufficiently qualified. Most music graduates tend to be booked for work at Chulalongkorn, Silpakorn, and Mahidol before they even finish college," says Nop.

KPN offers its "Two Songs For You" singing course, during which students will practice two songs over six lessons for Bt4,500.

Mifa has its MAA - or Mifa Artist Academy - a one-year course priced at Bt100,000 that runs for one year, in addition to 10 workshops each of 10 days duration covering dance, song-writing and Korean and Japanese styles of singing and dancing.

"The MAA course has been very successful, drawing more than 100 students, even though it was originally planned for between 10 and 20," says James. "The curriculum is design to train Grammy's new faces. It doesn't only teach singing and dancing, but everything about being an artist. It brings in about half of our overall income.

"We're also getting good attendance at the 10 short courses, with participation up by five to 15 per cent on two years ago. These workshops go well with the new generation's behaviour and needs. Youngsters really don't have much patience these days," says James.

Will all the students go on to sign with Grammy or KPN's Revol label, which is managed by Punkorn "Dunk" Boonyachinda?

"No, not always. We had one student who auditioned with the Korean entertainment company JYP. She signed a 10-year contract three years ago and should be releasing an album soon. Another formed a band called Candy Mafia and signed with Mono label," says James.

Other income for the schools comes from the sale of music instruments.

"We import pianos, violins and guitars and as today, most of them are made in China, the prices are quite reasonable. About half the pianos come from Japan. We expect to have 300 pianos and 800 violins this year," says Nop.

James agrees. "We're still importing instruments. But fortunately we also have a manufacturing agreement. I think it would be tough for us to sell just imports because of the competition," says James.