Bespoke tunes strike a cord with clients

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 3,000 in Singapore, a quantum leap from the meagre 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 percent.

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 the 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.

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.

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 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 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 realised 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 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 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. 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."

Chan, who is also a property agent, plays the guitar in a local band called Supernova, while 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 Chen.

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

Chen says 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."