Digital Love

For years now, music execs have been lamenting on the death of “industry”, no thanks to piracy and illegal downloads. Instead of complaining, the people behind RRecords (local singer Reshmonu, Pop Folio founder Hardesh Singh and tech wizard Janny) have taken a step back to analyze the industry by asking one pertinent question: What do artists really need in this digital age? RRecords prides themselves on knowing the answer. Taking what they describe as a holistic approach towards developing talent and content for the digital age, the mobile phone is RRecords’s channel of choice, capitalizing on the potential of ring tones. How does this differ from what telcos have been doing for ages? RRecords signs artists on board per single, unlike traditional multi-album label deals. Their contract is for digital downloads of one track only, and the artist maintains all intellectual copyrights. So far, RRecords has on their roster acts like Bunkface, Jerome Kugan, MC Kraft, James Baum and Tamil rap group Master Klan. Although it’s too soon to tell, RRecords has proven to be quite the success story. Bunkfance received a cheque for RM33,964 from RRecords - profit derived from downloads of their single, “Revolusi”. If you want to check out more about RRecords, check them out online at www.popfolio.net/rrecords.

Text Sarah Chan Photo www.popfolio.net/rrecords.

Article taken from KLue magazine Sept 2009, issue 131.