We are KILLING the music..

You are killing the music. It is dying. You are pushing it towards the edge of the cliff; it is teetering on the edge ready to fall into a giant, foamy, hungry ocean of non existence.

What am I talking about, you ask? No, you protest, head frantically shaking, finger wagging in defense. No, you say.

Money is killing the music. Not having money is killing the music. You see, there are people in this world who claim to be keeping music alive, but are, instead, exploiting the poor souls who dedicate their lives to the creation of this beautiful, mysterious art form.

You think we’re only musicians, stupid musicians who are meant to be poor. So you keep us that way, thinking we do not have any hope or ambitions bigger than what we have today.

We love music, we live music and we will gladly play for free. Anywhere. Anytime. But do you, Giant Corporate Concert Organizer/small café owner, ever stop to think that we are people too? We may be shabbily dressed, have DIY haircuts and still utilize Nokia 3310, but we are still people trying to earn a living, trying to save money. Going across state lines to play your show costs money. Petrol is not cheap. The evil toll is an unavoidable entity. Merely driving around KL costs a fortune. Taking the public transport is, contrary to popular belief, not the cheaper option. Doing it once is expensive, doing it on a regular basis is crippling. Would you like it if someone you barely knew expected you to drive miles and miles to do something for them, without at least a tiny token of appreciation?

At some point, we would come to realize that we can’t make the payment on the car, or make the rent, if we keep pouring money out of our pockets. So we won’t play music altogether, we won’t play for you. We are not able to play for you. We want to keep music alive, we want to entertain you, we want to spread the joy that music brings us, but you have to help us. Malaysia is brimming with musical potential, but that potential is dimming slowly. New acts are dying out simply because they cannot afford to keep the momentum going. Please understand. We are not asking for a fortune, we are asking for your understanding. It’s simple. Don’t let the music die.