Why your one minute guitar riff isn't building fans (the Roland Lim interview)


EML Alumnus, Marketing Advisor and Music Business Blogger, Emily Haw, recently interviewed music producer Roland Lim just before his 3-month NAC-sponsored trip to the UK.
NAC (National Arts Council) has been sponsoring participants on immersive learning trips at a mix of established UK youth arts organisations, so that they can return and contribute to the arts landscape. One beneficiary is Roland Lim, a young producer/ mix engineer with multiple hits in Australia, Singapore and across Asia (Australian metal band Make Them Suffer’s #1 charting (iTunes Australia) debut album 'Neverbloom' / #12 on the ARIA Australian Charts).
In this interview, Roland pulls no punches; as he says "I’m pretty sure I rubbed a lot of people the wrong way and pissed off a lot of people in the scene because in Australia, people are really upfront and very blunt."
Some of his views on why some Singapore bands don't make it big and what they can do:

  • "Our local bands don’t do enough to build a fan base ... try to impress fellow musicians more than potential fans."
  • "One may think his riff is so cool and insists that it must be included ... it is simply making it draggy and boring."
  • "Many bands here ... hold a self-defeatist attitude and think they are not good enough."

You can read Emily's comprehensive interview (and many other insightful interviews related to music business) at
http://musicbizinasia.blogspot.sg/2014/05/producer-roland-lim-takes-part-in-3.html
Roland also visited the EML studio for a chat, and also brought along the founders of the EDM Singapore Facebook group - see below:
Clockwise from top left: Ben Cosmic Armchair), DJ Dr Foo, Roland, Jeff (EDM Singapore), Kester (Ocean's Children), Jason (EDM Singapore)


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