Bespoke tunes strike a cord with clients

26-Oct-2011

A PASSION for music prompted two friends to set up their own business, and there are already signs that it is striking the right note with customers.

Express In Music helps musicians showcase their talent by selling customized music to customers.

An online platform put in place early this year has enabled it to attract musicians from all over the world and made things easier for clients too. It has a pool of about 30,000 musicians, singers, sound engineers and songwriters, including 2,000 to 3,999 here, a quantum leap from the meager 600 to 800 when the company got going in 2009.

The process starts when a client submits a brief online of what he wants, and pays for the music. A contest then starts, with interested musicians vying for the job by submitting their music. The client then makes his pick.

The process is transparent with the price determined when the client submits his brief.  It can cost between $750 and $3,000 to secure a piece of music, depending on factors such as whether lyrics are needed and how soon the client wants it done.

The musicians get a cut of 60 per cent.

Clients have included Bioskin, HSR Property Group and Far East Organization, mostly requesting commercial jingles for TV and radio.

There have also been non-commercial requests from clients, such as songs to commemorate wedding anniversaries.

Express in Music has six staff, including two founders, and has been based at rent-free space at Singapore Polytechnic's InnoVillage for 18 months.

Sales this year could reach $100,000, says co-founder Adriel Chan, 26, who handles the musicians.

Mr. Jerry Chen, also 26, is in charge of bringing in the business, including meeting clients to discuss exclusive projects that are not done via the online platform.

He says: " I have to do offline marketing to create awareness of the site, and focus on educating clients on the benefits of original music rather than cover songs, that audio can help you bring sales, a better brand recall and a better identity."

The company also has a live music arm and there are plans to grow overseas.

Mr. Chan says: "We are constantly looking for different avenues to help our musicians. Another way to help is to get live performances, so we are also doing that now…We feel that talent should not go to waste and not get paid."

While the company looks to be on song now, it was a "super-duper painful journey", says Mr. Chen, who, like his co-founder, is a Singapore Polytechnic graduate, though they met only during their army days.

When they started Express In Music in 2009, they realized that many people just "don't really see the need to respect the rights of musicians", says Mr. Chen.

"Nobody believed in original music."

He cites a potential client who, after a serious discussion, asked: "So, per (piece of) music is $1,right?"

"We were totally stunned," he adds.

Also, they realized that clients love numbers. They want to know what the return on an investment is, and where they can use the music. "So we are churning out the numbers," says Mr. Chen.

For example, research shows that slow music in a high-end restaurant helps to drive sales, he adds.

 A lot of education needs to be done, as musicians put in plenty of effort to create a piece of customized music, he notes.

 "Musicians being musicians, they are passionate about creating music, but they are not business people. So that's where my expertise comes in. I bring in the demand, I market them, I shape them and I brand them as the people to go to."

 It was Singapore Polytechnic that linked the pair with Spring Singapore, which gave them a $50,000 grant under the Young Entrepreneurs Scheme for Start-ups (Yes! Start-ups) in 2009.

 The duo then spent – and wasted- close to $10,000 on software while trying to get an online platform started.

 " It's a lesson learnt. We were a new start-up, we did not know that we would get cheated or that we did not get the right people to do the job," says Mr. Chen.

A few thousand more was then spent on marketing. That was also a failure as it got an "extremely low" amount of sales.

That was then. Mr Sim Choon Siong, Spring's director of entrepreneurship development, says: "Express In Music was one of 40 start-ups supported under Yes! Start-ups in 2009, when the scheme was first launched. Twelve of them have secured subsequent private-sector investment to expand, including Express in Music."

 Mr. Chan, who is also a property agent, plays the guitar in a local band called Supernova, while Mr. Chen is a bathroom singer. He says: "I go for karaoke sessions so I scare only the people in the room."

 Expertise in singing is not a requisite, but what is necessary is a deep love for music, which they both share.

 "If you don't like music, you can't be doing this," adds Mr. Chen.

Also, the duo and their team are a "driven lot", says Express in Music's major investor, Mr. Richard Quek.

Mr. Chen says that they still hold regular networking sessions for local musicians.

 "I truly believe in the business concept, and when you look at the delight and the smiles on the musicians' faces and the final product that can help businesses, the satisfaction is beyond description."

Joyce Teo

Source: The Straits Times (Singapore) | The Jakarta Globe(Indonesia)

From music-makers to money-makers



MUSIC lover and amateur singer Jerry Chen, 24, felt that local musicians were not getting enough work, let alone the exposure they deserved, so he decided to do something about it.

Teaming up with army buddy Adriel Chan, 24, he started a company that lets musicians showcase their talents and be paid for it.

Called Express In Music, it links up musicians with individuals or companies looking for original songs.

Clients seeking music can submit a request to the company, which will then relay it to a pool of 200 musicians, made up of songwriters, singers and sound engineers, among others.

Interested musicians submit demo tapes, which are vetted and then passed on to the clients. Once a client has selected a song, it will be recorded. The whole process takes about five weeks.

Clients pay $600 for the whole package, which includes a standard recording done in a home studio by studio engineers, or $1,500 for the song to be professionally recorded.

The musicians behind the song get a cut of up to 60 per cent of the fees, said Mr Chen.

So far, Express In Music, set up in February, has fulfilled eight requests. Mr Chen acknowledged that it was a small number but added that things were picking up. The company is handling eight more projects.

'We have established a foundation in our first six months. Now we are moving on to get more song requests,' he said.

The company's clients have ranged from a TV channel looking for a song for an advertiser - TV viewers had probably seen the commercial, for a youth event in June - and a mother who wanted a song to encourage her son in his studies.

Mr Chen said the idea behind Express In Music took root when he read a news report about how hard it was for local musicians to make a name for themselves in Singapore.

'I thought, 'Why don't we get local musicians together to do this?' I feel they lack opportunities currently,' said Mr Chen, who worked in events marketing previously.

His alma mater, Singapore Polytechnic, linked him up with Spring Singapore, which helped him out with a grant.

In addition to the five-digit sum, Mr Chen and Mr Chan put in $12,000 to start the company.

The two men, who run Express In Music full-time, have two part-timers helping them out with Web development and graphic design.

Mr Chen himself likes to sing while Mr Chan is part of a local band called Supernova.

Besides giving musicians a chance to showcase their talents, the company arranges get-togethers for its pool of musicians, who are based in Singapore.

'It's good for networking, and we also have tie-ups with music schools like the Lee Wei Song School of Music,' said Mr Chen.

The company is working on getting its official website up and running, and hopes that musicians will be able to submit their demos through the website instead of by e-mail by next year.

While he is coy about the company's plans, Mr Chen said he hoped to expand his business.

'We want to help bring about a change in the local music industry and help musicians here with monetary awards,' he said.

Express In Music can be contacted at www.meetup.com/The-Singapore-Singers-Songwriters-Meetup-Group/

Yeo Ghim Lay

Source: The Straits Times (Singapore)

Taking Song Dedication To Another Level


The Express IN Music team - Adriel Chan, Wee Wei Jie, Tiffany Yew and Jerry Chen.

Music may make the world go round, but everyone knows the music business can be tough. Yet this not stopping the young entrepreneurs at ExpressINMusic, an online service that matches those who need personalized music with those who can make it. Started by four enterprising youths – Adriel Chan (24-years old), Wee Wei Jie (25), Tiffany Yew (24) and Jerry Chen (24 ) – Singapore-based ExpressINMusic is, to hear them describe it, a platform that 'connects your needs in delivering your message emotionally through original music'.

"(It's for the) couple in love wanting to pen their personal story in a song or a company with a branding purpose to touch the hearts of its targeted audience," says Jerry Chen, who handles business development. "With the personalised song, you can meaningfully deliver your message effectively without the worries of legality issues like copyright infringements too."

Its premise is simple. Simple define a story and emotions that you wish to convey through a song on the site, and hope some musicians on their network will express interest and post samples, select the one you like best and finally have the song produced. Sounds easy enough, but I reckon the devil is in the details.

A Passion for Music

Jerry, the startup's spokesperson, says that everyone in the team has a keen interest in music and entrepreneurship. He shares that the inspiration for ExpressINMusic came out of the blue one night as he was reading a newspaper article about a composer and his passion for music. Having always been interested in music, he came upon the idea of writing original songs for couples who were getting married and shared this idea with a buddy. "But both of us were not composers… (so) the idea of outsourcing music requests to a network of musicians out there came about."

Jerry believes that the key USP of ExpressINMusic is the wide network of musicians they can tap into, resulting in time and cost savings for clients. To substantiate his point, Jerry explains that the average original song production can cost anything from $1,500 to $5,000 and above, while their song production by ExpressINMusic is pegged at either $600 or $1,500 depending on the package chosen. In addition, the time taken for the industry average in song composition to production takes around three months, while ExpressINMusic can deliver it in just five weeks on average.

"When a music request is submitted, the client will be able to hear many different song pieces and find one that suits them best. The quantity is here," Jerry assures. "And there is also the high quality amidst the quantity of musicians in our database. Given that we are able to form credible partnerships with local sound engineers and music schools, the quality of music works certainly prevails."

With this service, Jerry says, ExpressINMusic can also offer Singapore musicians the opportunity for greater exposure. "People say that you can't survive in Singapore doing arts and music – we want to prove that wrong." He also reveals that they intend to go regional and overseas gradually. I'm somewhat surprised of the strong focus on local musicians and their gradual expansion plans. I would've thought for rapid adoption and scalability they'd need to open up the service as wide as possible.

ExpressINMusic believes there is potential in the "love" market – couples getting married, or during courtship. To further grow their business, Jerry says the service will also look at the B2B (business-to-business) market, especially in the area of film and media production as well as advertising. Its business model relies largely on a commission basis.

ExpressINMusic is funded by SPRING Singapore and various private investors – Jerry declines to reveal the actual amount except that it is to the tune of a five-digit figure – but is looking for additional funding opportunities. The startup is also looking to expand its team. "We have business coming in and need to cope with many aspects such as design and some administrative work."

On Entrepreneurship

If there's anything that Jerry believes about entrepreneurship, it is that 'action speaks louder than words. "If there's an opportunity, and you really want it, go for it! Merely saying that you want the opportunity is not going to get you anywhere," he encourages. "Don't wait for things to happen. As an entrepreneur, you make things happen!

"I have come a long way but there's a longer journey ahead with more learning experiences. I now realize that you have to learn from failure to be successful."

"Put in the effort and go through the pain. Then sweet success will come."

Source: Young Upstarts

Outsource Music Composition To The Experts



If you've never been musically inclined but have always wished that you could compose your own music and serenade your woman with a unique song just for her, ExpressInMusic might be the service you have been searching for.

ExpressInMusic is a local startup that allows individuals to send in their music requests and get a uniquely composed and produced piece of music in accordance with that request in several weeks. The process:

(1) Pay $150 and send a description of the story/message, mood or any other thing you want mentioned in the song to ExpressInMusic. (Ensures serious customers.)
(2) The request is disseminated to the entire group of musicians who have signed up (currently around 200) – all kinds, composers, singers, guitarists etc..
(3) Musicians interested in trying out for your request will submit demo pieces.
(4) ExpressInMusic will allow you to choose your favourite from the demo pieces.
(5) The selected demo piece will then be taken under the care of sound engineers and into the recording studio for mastering, mixing and music arrangement. You can choose between a Standard and Professional package. The Professional package is approximately 2.5 times the cost of a Standard.
(6) Around one month later, you have your song delivered to you.

Voilà! You have in an indirect way composed your own music. All your recipient needs to know is that you inspired the composition and set the direction of the song.


Source: Singapore Entrepreneurs

Express Your Brand With Emotions Through Music


Building a buzz online and offline is the main objective of a brand or organisation generally to get their name out in there. The buzz must be built through the music, brand, or movement in which they are pushing. This buzz starts off small then it eventually grows into a massive frenzy with the viral effect.

When your are being heavily promoted people in your area will begin talking about you and your music. They will be able to associate closer to your brand and you can establish an emotional element to connect with the targeted audience. After your personalised music is buzzing, it will be a viral effect naturally that people tell their friends pretty much about your brand, thus promoting and distributing your music.

Into this turbulent market have entered a number of established brands but also some new brands going into the traditional medium of promoting themselves. Consumers do not want to see the normal advertising and promotion any more. They need an emotion association and music can bridge this gap.

With a philosophy of community spirit and openness, these new brands are trying to connect with consumers in a way that the established major players have not yet managed. This direct connection is crucial, both to consumer and retailer, and this has not changed since the days of traditional advertising media and channels.

To help customers through this huge amount of independent and often undiscovered content, the new digital music brands are creating a true community network. In conjunction with many well known experts and major players of the industry the philosophy is about getting the consumer involved like never before.

Aiming to mix both massive choice with personal recommendations, the new brands have a mission to bring the experience of the small new shop back into the forefront of consumers minds, and maybe bring back the love of hearing and discovering new music all over again.

You will gradually be able to see how brands are able to communicate their message uniquely and effectively through music. This is a traditional message medium but packaged under personalized music. It is the delivery that makes the difference, that makes your brand stands out.

How can your brand communicate through music? (Media & Advertising, Branding Consultancy, Events, Wedding) : In an unique manner, you will be able to communicate the message and emotions through music the way you want it to be. On a highly affordable budget, you will have a wide pool of musicians composing specially for you. From the music pieces submitted by the many composers, you can select the one you like from a quantity base. The time taken from the point of posting your "Music Request" is only an approximate 2 weeks - as compared to the industry average of 5 weeks. With the personalized song, you can meaningfully deliver your message effectively without the worries of legality issues like copyright infringements too.

How can your music reach out to others more efficiently? : This is an opportunistic platform for musicians - be it you are a composer, sound engineer or performing artiste...it is a chance for your talents to be discovered and appreciated. Many have seen this as a way of building up their portfolio in their music career. By promoting your original songs, you can edit your present music (i.e. the melody and/or lyrics) by doing some adjustments to suit the "Music Brief". Or also through inspiration, you can compose a whole new demo piece for the "Music Brief". You are rewarded through monetary remuneration and also the chance to showcase yourself readily accepted by the market. Projects are currently disseminated through the database of musicians and on a newer platform.

We hope to see music as a beautiful channel in the way we communicate our emotions and feelings...a message beyond just words. Touching Hearts.

Source: PRLog (Press Release)

How to Express your brand through Music

Building a buzz online and offline is the main objective of a brand or organisation generally to get their name out in there. The buzz must be built through the music, brand, or movement in which they are pushing. This buzz starts off small then it eventually grows into a massive frenzy with the viral effect.

When your are being heavily promoted people in your area will begin talking about you and your music. They will be able to associate closer to your brand and you can establish an emotional element to connect with the targeted audience. After your personalised music is buzzing, it will be a viral effect naturally that people tell their friends pretty much about your brand, thus promoting and distributing your music.

Into this turbulent market have entered a number of established brands but also some new brands going into the traditional medium of promoting themselves. Consumers do not want to see the normal advertising and promotion any more. They need an emotion association and music can bridge this gap.

With a philosophy of community spirit and openness, these new brands are trying to connect with consumers in a way that the established major players have not yet managed. This direct connection is crucial, both to consumer and retailer, and this has not changed since the days of traditional advertising media and channels.

To help customers through this huge amount of independent and often undiscovered content, the new digital music brands are creating a true community network. In conjunction with many well known experts and major players of the industry the philosophy is about getting the consumer involved like never before.

Aiming to mix both massive choice with personal recommendations, the new brands have a mission to bring the experience of the small new shop back into the forefront of consumers minds, and maybe bring back the love of hearing and discovering new music all over again.

You will gradually be able to see how brands are able to communicate their message uniquely and effectively through music. This is a traditional message medium but packaged under personalized music. It is the delivery that makes the difference, that makes your brand stands out.

Source: Articlesbase.com

What Does Your Brand Sound Like? - Express In Music officially launch in full force

From music makers to money makers - How original song branding can bring out the essence and emotions of targeted customers? A whole new platform can now connect musicians with commercial brands looking for music productions ranging from jingles to marketing campaigns.

Statistics show that the music industry is on a major decline. From December 2010 onwards, music production takes a switch towards crowd sourcing. A new portal has officially emerge to revive music scene and is promising to take the music industry to the next level.

On this new platform launched today, brand managers might wish to ask themselves, "What do my brand sounds like?" Express In Music is an online platform connecting thousands of musicians with clients seeking personalized music. Clients from various industries like media advertising and branding consultancy upload their specific music brief and through crowd-sourcing musicians will then be able to see this as a cash prize contest for music personalization. Besides being a pioneering platform to increasing demand for song personalization, the unique selling proposition appeals to clients who wish to communicate their brand through music in a much more convenient, faster manner through higher quality output. Through crowdsourcing for music production, musicians see the music brief (of a brand) as a contest and bid for the project by submitting their personalized song/music entries. The chosen piece gets the prize money in exchange for licensing rights.

ExpressInMusic.com is a platform that connects thousands of musicians with clients seeking personalized music. The portal personalize songs for corporate branding and communication needs. Based on a brand's story and character, musicians customized an original song that best represents their persona. This results in touching audience and customers emotionally. The primary purpose is to engage original artistes' work of a personalized music piece that attaches a brand's meaning.

These are the mediums which brands and original music works can connect upon with crowdsourcing of music production:
1.) Television commercials
2.) Radio jingles
3.) Feature film
4.) Corporate videos
5.) Social media campaigns
6.) Event theme song
7.) Web branding and much more others that a creative mind can proposed of

Benefits are achieved from specific quality music/songs according to requests at shorter time frame with cost effectiveness when mass musicians are able to collaborate on this proprietary platform. Musicians currently have a tremendously hard time earning from the music industry. Express In Music is here to provide the solution to commercialize their music and make it a viable conducive environment for business brands to engage their marketing needs through a personalized song.

Marketers know that buzz can be built through the music, brand, or movement in which they are pushing. This buzz starts off small then it eventually grows into a massive frenzy with the viral effect. When a brand is being heavily promoted people in an area, people begins to talk about the message in the music. They will be able to associate closer to the brand and marketers can establish an emotional element to connect with the targeted audience.

Brands have a mission to bring the experience of the small new shop back into the forefront of consumers minds, and maybe bring back the love of hearing and discovering new music all over again.

Brands gradually see how they are able to communicate their message uniquely and effectively through music. This is a traditional message medium but packaged under personalized music. It is the delivery that makes the difference, that makes a brand stands out.

Marketers need to communicate, to be a consummate and effective storyteller, which is what branding is all about. A successful brand illustrates a company or product story both emotionally and narratively through this crowdsourcing platform for music production and communication.

On a Corporate Social Responsibility side, musicians are constantly looking out for opportunities and it had always been a challenge to stand out from the millions of (original) songs and artistes that spruce up yearly. You can take this chance to fulfill a corporate social element to elevate opportunities for musicians. Passionate artistes, composers, singers will find this proposition interesting to spread their music and generate a new level of monetizing their songs.

How does Express In Music works?

Consumers do not want to see the normal advertising and promotion any more. They need an emotion association in which music and motion can bridge this gap.

Discover how a brand could express their brand through personalize music. Distinct and differentiate oneself to stand out from the crowd through an emotional medium - music. Be it a theme song that represent oneself or a music that signify a brand, marketers will be able to communicate messages much more effectively as one connects the brand with music. This in turn completes a viral cycle with an emotional touch element.

So, what does your brand sounds like?

Source: PRWEB

Pitch Your Original Song To A Brand

Founder of music crowdsourcing platform, Express In Music, Jerry Chen, 26, had seen many international musicians deprived of getting their songs engage by commercial brands. The difficulty of independent artistes reaching out to organizations for commercialization is a common sight.

Co-founder, Adriel Chan, 26, echoed his thoughts, "There are millions of artistes emerging year on year, each of them are trying to stand out and be recognized in their area of music, especially those who produces original songs. Where do these songs end up most of the time?"

In a bid to elevate opportunities for musicians of different spectrums from composers, lyricists to sound engineering, Express In Music online platform had been in constant pursuit to create jobs of such nature.

Recently some open projects were voiceover for international brand, Fisherman's Friend and a music rearrangement project for a Singapore primary school. These had all garnered good responses from fellow talents internationally which range from the USA, United Kingdom to South East Asia region.

This had prompted the company to hold a music competition, "Pitch Your Original Song to a Brand". The idea is in search for original songs to be match up with any brands internationally or locally known. Musicians can match the elements of their original music with a brand that have the same characteristics. It is in the pitch for brands to endorse and recognize that these music pieces sent in can be original theme song for their products or services in line with their communication needs.

Currently, the company had successfully clinched clients mainly in Asia such as GSK, Far East Organization, HSR Properties, Super Coffee and Bioskin.

"This unique approach allows musicians all over the world to customize songs for any brand they wish to highlight for endorsement. Commercial organizations are also then contacted to let them know of the availability of musicians having original pieces that can be used for the advertising and promotional needs," Mr Chen said.

Musicians can now write songs not only for leisure purposes but writing a song with an added commercial impact.

For this one-of-a-kind music contest, we had put up an attractive proposition of giving up to $1,000 of shopping spree to the winning musician. The winner will be able to buy any music-related items such as recording studio hours, music software or instruments, as long as it helps fulfill their music dreams.

Both founders of the online platform, http://www.ExpressInMusic.com believes that it will be exciting and interesting to see that eventually brands are aware that besides cover songs by well-known artistes, there are still many original musicians who are able to make the cut and create engaging music for their brands.

The contest had started on 10th April 2011 and will end 7th May 2011. In less than one week, the company's fan page on Facebook had increased by more than 1,500 due to this campaign. They believe that in the next few days, more than 10,000 fans will be on their social media page as a result of this contest.

Mr Chan said the approach is based on how musicians view certain brands. Their music can enhance this perception that best represent the brand or organization. He acknowledged that Express In Music platform is in its 2nd year as a humble start-up which bridges musicians with jingles, voiceovers and other music production opportunities on this crowdsourcing model.

For further details, you can visit their website at http://www.ExpressInMusic.com or enter the contest on their Facebook fan page at http://www.facebook.com/ExpressInMusic.

Source: NEWSWIRE

Can You Crowdsource Music?



There are many websites and communities that crowdsource creative projects. Most of these platforms focus on graphic design work where companies can go for logos and other creative marketing concepts. ExpressInMusic is setting out to prove that crowdsourcing can also be valuable in the music world.

Founded by two friends in Singapore and launched in February 2009, ExpressInMusic is hoping to attract companies that seek original music to compliment their brand advertising. Founders Jerry Chen and Adriel Chan created ExpressInMusic in the hopes of giving musicians from all over the world an opportunity to gain recognition as well as to make some extra money.

Companies can submit specifications to ExpressInMusic whose community of musicians reply with their original demo tapes. The company then chooses its favorite and the song will be recorded either professionaly or in a home studio. The basic package will cost clients $600 while the professional package will be priced at $1500. Musicians are compensated up to 60% of the sale price.

The original music can be used in television commercials, radio jingles, corporate videos, or social media campaigns. ExpressInMusic has also been used to create music for movies and video games. Some clients have even been non-business entities looking for original songs written specially for their loved ones.

ExpressInMusic has managed to raise funding from Spring Singapore and hopes to expand its business in the near future. It remains to be seen whether crowdsourced music can find the same level of success that crowdsourced design has enjoyed.

Do you think crowdsourcing can be a valuable tool in the music industry? Let us know what you think on our forums

Source: DAILYCROWDSOURCE.COM

Chat with Jerry Chen from Express In Music

If you are running a startup, have you ever consider using music or sound as your marketing tool?

This video highlights what Express in Music can do for you. Last week, I met up with Jerry Chen CEO from Express in Music. I got to know Jerry during the Angel’s Gate contest. A business guy with lots of creative ideas, his business has already gain quite a bit of press attention but he was kind to accept my interview. Here's what he have for us.

1. Share with the readers what is ExpressInMusic.com?

We are in the space of creating audio identities and sonic branding for businesses. Our automated platform system engages clients' briefs conveniently and attracts a fair amount of inputs from musicians internationally.

2. How it works?

It’s a 3 step process.

First, post your music brief and our algorithm will instantly let you know the amount to pay for. In fact, you can set the prize money within the range (the higher it is, the more submissions you will attract). Second, once the music brief is uploaded successfully, this opportunity is seen by thousands of talents. Like a contest model, they will pour in customized productions specific to your brief. Third, you chose the winner and only the winner is paid the prize money. This works great for startups as well because they could control their budget.

3. How did the idea come about?

I came up with this idea one day while flipping through the newspapers. There was this guy (a singer-songwriter) who claims that only his wife appreciates his original song. Nobody else appreciates and he has no avenues to let people hear his song because the music space is too congested. This gave me an idea in which I specialize in the area of marketing and selling. These singer-songwriters have their strengths in producing great music but I don’t. However, they can leverage on my selling traits. Therefore, I thought of the idea through crowdsourcing where we can leverage on each other strengths.

4. Your team?

Adriel and I founded ExpressInMusic.com. We were army buddies. Adriel has been a musician himself (with a band called “SuperNova”) for close to 10 years. He knows the technical aspects when it comes to music while I am more focus in the area of business development as I was in numerous entrepreneurship competitions during my Singapore Polytechnic days. Time flies and we have been business partners for 3 years.

5. Highs and lows so far with ExpressInMusic.com + toughest decision you have to make so far

The highs were definitely clinching our first TV Commercial job (music), our first article release on The Straits Times, our first major contract that was in the region of 5-digits.

The lows were when a group of musicians on the verge of clinching the job were dropped last minute by the client, paying web programmers (multiple) and not getting our site done even after months… It was quite a mess.

6. What would you say is the next big thing?

I would say social media is the current “in” thing. Crowd-sourcing is already present and shall be the next ‘big’ thing, that people begin to understand the power of the crowd. Why go to one person or vendor when you can get a wider variety of choice in a single platform?

Also to look out for is on ‘Sensory Marketing’. We all have our 5 senses but traditionally we focus on visual communications. It is time for the rise of audio branding. There’s more awareness now for how audio identities can bring in part of the experiential marketing aspect.

Thanks Jerry for your time and all the best.

So if your startup is considering a marketing campaign soon – do check out ExpressInMusic.com or connect with Jerry. p/s I am NOT getting any referral fees.

Source: Lee Tuck Sing's Weblog