Creative industry players adapt to new norms

KUCHING: The Covid-19 pandemic has affected those in the events and entertainment industry, with shows either being postponed or cancelled, leaving many performers and entertainers out of job and without income.

Nevertheless, the artistes and others in the entertainment and creative industries have taken the opportunity amidst the pandemic to embrace the new norms, by entertaining the public from home via online platforms such as YouTube, Zoom, Facebook Live and the like.

For Iban singer Melissa Francis, 35, the pandemic has made her realise why saving is so important to her as during this time, it serves as something that she can fall back on.

She said prior to the emergence of Covid-19 early last year, financial matters had not been a problem throughout her career.

“I am the type of person who does not have much savings because being a singer, you would always have enough and not really think that you would have to save some money.

“When MCO (Movement Control Order) started, I thought really hard of ways to pay my house and car loans, and also to care for my family but at that time, thank God, there was the six-month moratorium announced by Bank Negara so I could postpone paying my house and car loans, as well as shop rental fee during that period,” said the eldest of five siblings, who now runs a beauty salon, the Celebrity Bistro and a recording studio – all in a three-storey building at Kota Samarahan.

On these properties, Melissa said they represented not only her business, but also her fall-back plan as she would not want to just rely on singing as her livelihood.

“I am thankful that despite the pandemic, I still have my salon, my bistro and my recording studio. Even though times are hard now, at least there’s something for me and my family. I keep on telling my staff to appreciate and work hard because it’s not easy to land decent jobs out there.

“Since I cannot go out and do shows, I’m adapting to the new norms. If the show didn’t come to you, you’d go to where the source would be – right now, I’m also a social media influencer for a cosmetics company and hopefully, there would be another one (for) a health product company.

“All of these (being a social media influence), you’re paid for it.

“I remember when times were really hard (at the start of MCO) – I never imagined myself selling pork and satays from house to house in this area.

“Nonetheless, what’s there to be ashamed of – all of us need to survive,” she added.

Melissa is among the most popular Iban singers around, with many accolades under her belt – among them Dayak Music Awards (Dama)’s Best Female Artist 2008; Most Popular Song (‘Mutus Ati’) and Best Vocal Award in ‘Anugerah Juara Rentak Ruai’ (Ajarr) 2011; Dama’s Best Female Artiste and Best Pop Ballad in 2012; Asia Voice Independent Music Award (Best Rock Song – ‘Perening’) where she bagged the silver award; The Most ‘Stailo’ Artiste by Berita Harian in 2012; winner of ‘Sapa Juara’ Charts Awards 2015 by RTM; and Outstanding Performance, Successful People in Malaysia by the British Publishing House in 2020.

Even amidst her hectic schedule as a performer, Melissa is still pursuing a Bachelor in Business Administration course at a university.

For seasoned compere Gary Mohd Hanif, who is now in his 40s, the restrictions resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic have been very hard on him.

Having used to landing at least six emcee jobs in a week, the present period has been really difficult for him.

“We understand that our numbers are small, but the impact is as heavy as, if not more than, others.

“With nothing at all to fall back on and sometimes doing voice-over stints that would hardly come by, we humbly request the government to consider the like of us, as we are usually very independent.

“Because of the pandemic, our sole bread-and-butter is badly affected,” he said.

Lenny Chew, 36, a former radio station programme manager, former compere and former show host, said he had expected the industry to be affected greatly so he quickly took the opportunity to sell and promote products from corporate companies via social media. He was recently appointed as Samsung Sarawak ambassador and had the opportunity to promote the products online.

“I was lucky as during my appointment, I had known that the pandemic would affect the people like us in the creative industry – our shows and emceeing jobs in weddings and corporate events had been cancelled. Still, you just could not sit down and do nothing.

“What I did was creating platforms for people to promote their products; when the platforms were used, I’d get paid, and the vendors using the platform would get paid too via ‘K’ coins, which could be converted into cash. The more ‘K’ coins you get, the more you earn.

“With Samsung Sarawak, I promote its products online, and all of their online advertisements on social media would be handled by me – I’d get paid for that too.

“I even do promotions for hardware shops, telcos and restaurants – these are among my key accounts,” he said.

Lenny said during this pandemic, he had taken the opportunity to learn new skills like being involved in commercial videos, composing commercial song, as well as his technical and talking skills.

“I have composed over 15 songs during this pandemic. The lyrics are more towards current issues, the problems that we are facing. Recently, my New Year song received very good response on social media.

“I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination,” he said.

For popular singer, composer and songwriter and also an entrepreneur, Ir Radzi, 38, all of his interactive ‘face-to-face’ and ‘social’ shows had been postponed, due to strict standard operating procedure.

Nonetheless, he refused to be disheartened – he is now running his own shows using alternative digital and online platforms.

“These platforms allow me to share with my followers my contents, including the release of my new singles, song covers, the process of song composition, and livestreaming.

“As an entertainer during these trying times, I have to get creative with my contents, and explore things that I may be unfamiliar with.

“Collaboration is also needed, especially between entrepreneurs, public figures, and communities, as this would reduce the workload and burden that the people in our industry are facing.

“I do get paid for some of my shows but to generate extra income, I have also been doing paid reviews and sponsorships,” said Ir Radzi, who holds a Degree in Management Science.