Speech by Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Education and Law, Ms Sim Ann, at The Originals IP Champion Music Fiesta 2012 Finale

22 JUN 2012

22 Jun 2012 Posted in Speeches

Mr Tan Yih San, Chief Executive of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS)
Mr Lim Peng Hun, Deputy Principal, Technology Industry, Singapore Polytechnic
Distinguished guests
Educators and students

Introduction

  1. Good afternoon. I am very happy to join you for the finale of The Originals Intellectual Property (IP) Champion Music Fiesta 2012. This evening is the result of hard work by every one of you. I believe you have had an intense yet delightful learning journey over the last four-and-a-half days.

IP Champion Music Fiesta

  1. The IP Champion Music Fiesta, now into its second year, is jointly organised by the Honour Intellectual Property (HIP) Alliance and Singapore Polytechnic (SP). During the Camp, 88 aspiring young musicians from 13 secondary schools learnt about songwriting and gained knowledge on the management of copyright. They had a chance to interact with local music veterans to learn about the music industry. They also composed their own song – a piece of creative work which they can now proudly declare as their own intellectual property.

Singapore’s homegrown talents gaining exposure internationally

  1. Artists in Singapore can be confident that their works will be protected, so that they are inspired to produce more and better works. Indeed, Singapore is well-regarded internationally for our IP regime – it was ranked top in Asia and second in the world by the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2011.
  1. Singapore is now home to more than 100 music companies, societies and schools and we are proud to have nurtured internationally renowned local singer-songwriters like JJ Lin, Tanya Chua and Dick Lee; producers like Liang Wern Fook and Martin Tang; and music arrangers, like Iskandar Ismail and Goh Kheng Long . Up and coming homegrown talents such as Tay Kewei and SIXX are also making waves internationally. They represented Singapore at one of the world’s largest music trade fairs MIDEM ( Marche International du Disque et de l’Edition Musicale), held in Cannes, France this year. Local film score composer Tan Chee Wei also won nominations and awards for his work in American television channel PBS’ documentary ‘NOVA: Ocean Animal Emergency’ at acclaimed festivals such as the Cannes Film Festival and Lyon Asian Festival.
  1. Last year, YouTube launched a localised version of the site in Singapore to enable more local content creators to share and monetise content. Content owners will not only be able to gain greater online exposure and royalties, but will also get a share of the online advertisement revenue, as part of the licensing arrangements with the Composers and Authors Society of Singapore ( COMPASS). This is certainly a very encouraging development that helps to better reward IP creators in Singapore.
  1. As such, we must continue to play our part in giving due recognition and respect to IP creators and their original works in Singapore. JJ Lin, IPOS’ recently appointed IP ambassador, was honoured as the Top Local Artiste of the Year at the 14th annual COMPASS Awards Presentations in 2009 for generating the highest royalties’ earnings that year. With the assistance of JJ Lin and other IPOS’ ambassadors, Tay Kewei and Dick Lee, we hope to promote and inspire greater awareness and respect for intellectual property.

Conclusion

  1. This IP Camp has been an exciting learning journey for everyone to gain a better understanding and appreciation of IP, and to ensure that innovation and creativity continue to thrive in Singapore. I am confident that after the Camp, participants will recognise the efforts put in by creators and will better appreciate and respect the original works of others.
  1. I had the opportunity to interact with last year’s winners and participants, who all found the Camp to be an interesting learning experience as they were exposed first-hand to the hard work behind creating and performing music. I could see the pride on the faces of the winners last year as they saw the launch of their completed song and music video at the Originals IP Spectacular, the World IP day event held in April this year.
  1. The outstanding performances today have shown us that there is no lack of creative talent in Singapore. Not only will the winning team be conferred the Minister for Law Challenge trophy on behalf of their school, they will also have the opportunity to record their winning song in a recording studio under the guidance of music professionals. I am also pleased to introduce a new award, the Popular Choice Award – which the audience will participate in this evening by voting for their favourite team.
  1. Before we announce the results, on behalf of IPOS, I would like to thank the following partners for their invaluable support:
    • Singapore Polytechnic (SP) ;
    • Ocean Butterflies Music; and
    • Touch Music Publishing.
  1. In closing, I hope that everyone will remember to honour and embrace IP as part of our way of life: let’s all pledge our support for originality!
  1. Thank you.

Last updated on 25 Nov 2012