B-Quartet From Singapore
August 11, 2007 by Jo Minor
When I was in Singapore in June 2007, I had the wonderful pleasure of watching B-Quartet play live. It made me think about the amount of good music and unique talent out there that never get the recognition they deserve. B-Quartet is definitely one of them, but it is just the way the Singapore music industry works, or is the band themselves to blame?
Let’s see..
Their wonderful EP titled “The Smitten Bard” was published in 2005 by Aging Youth Records. On Aging Youth’s site itself, all news about this band seemed to stop on 21st December 2005. Absolutely nothing after that, except for some occasional appearances here and there, the latest being at Bay Beats Singapore 2007…
I remember asking an Aging Youth representative about the band, and he told me that after the EP itself was released, the band did not go all out to market their EP. Instead of following-up on their album, the band went under the radar for a while.
So what did the get into? My guess is it’s either writing new songs (which is still good), Singaporean national service, or into a “real” job.
In 2007, close to two years later, “The Smitten Bard” EP is still all the band has. And there’s still a lot of copies left in case you want to buy one.
Being winners of the 2002 Yamaha Asian Beat band competition, B-Quartet is made up of two pairs of brothers who happen to be cousins as well. They blend funk, jazz, metal and progressive rock into a blindingly tight set, reflecting their eclectic tastes in music. Playing with a telepathic ability, their technical prowess on their instruments and their exquisite vocal harmonies have enchanted and mesmerized audiences, winning them fans everywhere they go.
That sounds jolly good, but is the band doing anything real to market their music? Even their Myspace profile is lifeless with 83 friends and no MP3s. Seriously, how difficult can it be to upload some? How difficult can it be to upload a professional video to YouTube? How difficult can it be so you have your website and domain name?
The truth is, most bands pour all their efforts into making music, and absolutely nothing into music marketing. Without a real music marketing plan, most bands like B-Quartet gain a handful of loyal supporters, then wither and die.
In 5 years when no one remembers B-Quartet, at least I’ll still have one of their CDs.
More information on the band, B-Quartet:
Here’s a live of “Table 62″, probably my favorite B-Quartet song so far.
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http://www.vimeo.com/888704
heres their video
I’m trying
Hey dude,
The band has released a full length in January 2008. Let us know if you wanna get your hands on it!
And yeah, the band is not too well-versed in marketing. Hopefully, we are able to help out…