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The most popular video that I currently have on my YouTube channel. It is a piece that I would say its rather complex. The right hand plays as the accompaniment for the first few mins, while the left hand plays the bass line and the melody. It is a piano cover with many voices to take note of. The coordination is the toughest part of this piece. It takes a lot of dedication to get it smoothly played. However, taking dedication alone to play out this cover does not gain a lot of views, it is the way we aim to get the audience to watch it and get interested in wanting to continue watching without quitting halfway or not repeating it again. It takes a lot of discussion and planning to consider. Reason is because, practicing and perfecting it alone does not guarantee many people will want to watch it. It is the way how it is improvised. Improvising the song to make it more complicating attracts the viewer attention. The viewer may feel amazed from what you done, so they decide to share it to their friends, or probably to the original artist who wrote the song. After that, it comes to the marketing. It is not simply throwing money to gain the audience's attention. It is a matter of getting genuine viewers. People who truly love your work will want to share your work, which in the end, the timing to upload is crucial, being on time to upload at a time where many people use their phones during their breaks, or people are going home from work must be considered. It does not necessarily be on the time that I usually consider as it depends on the content you upload, which is suggested that experimenting the time to upload is necessary. Hastags and keywords are very important as well. This helps people to watch the videos that are being recommended to them when they are watching other videos, as usual, experimenting is required as well. It all boils down to the content creativeness, the time to upload and the keywords. These are three of the many things to consider to attract viewers.

[lotqwertl]

An interview with a business entrepreneur who runs a music school

Jenson Koh’s interview

What made you decide to start a music school?

Honestly, I am just a drummer wanting to learn more but finding opportunities to learn drumming in Singapore is very limited.

Back then in 2009, content on YouTube was also limited and I was sceptical about the authenticity of drum lessons provided in Singapore. Many music schools have drum teachers who are just performers and they don’t have knowledge on music theory or even rhythm notations.

I just wanted anyone who wants to learn drumming be able to read rhythm and know what they are playing. Hence, I started Bozzworkz to teach drumming.  

What are some basic requirements to open a music school?

Register company , and licence to operate are fundamental requirements. Then after that, it will be the location and requirements for the kind of music classes you are planning to offer.

Sound proofing will be a very big part in your operation venue as this will determine how long you will be in business without causing neighbours to veto you out.

Location of business also plays a part on what kind of customers will be coming to your school. Eg. carpark or other related businesses will help your business to grow as parents prefer to bring their kids for lessons.

What are the potential obstacles one would face along the way when opening a music school?

Music is not always music to the ears to different people. To maintain world peace, we need to manage the sound leakage issue seriously. Meaning, treatment of the studio’s internal and external structure should not have sound leakage which will cause neighbours’ businesses to take legal action by ceasing your business operation.

Location of business might be affected by neighbours’ businesses as well. Eg. next to a cafe might increase your visibility of your business.

What are some marketing strategies you would recommend?

Google ads, Facebook and any latest social medial platform are recommended to market your business.

What is the best location you would recommend to start a music school?

There is no best location. It’s only what kind of customer base you want to built. Of course, if you prefer an up scale music school, you can operate at orchard area if you can manage the rent of shopping malls. There will be customers coming to you as long as your business strategy is right.

How do you work out a training programme for students?

To be true to the foundation skills of the instrument they choose and having teachers working under you to have the same ideas.

Offering different options to keep up with the times, eg. digital platform can be an advantage to us as we can work out on line packages to not only have customer base locally.

Monitor progress, so to encourage what can be achieved next like exams or even challenging prizes to keep them motivated to continue.

For my personal motto, the main component I focus on in my company, is Fun. If we are not planning to start a college of music, then the aim of the business is to expose customers as much as they want in learning an instrument and have fun with it in their lives.

From this interview, I had learn that the importance of location can help one’s business. It does not necessarily need to be an expensive location at a city area. It is best to be a place that is easier for students to easily travel to and parents that can drop their children at a suitable place so they would not feel rush. I also learn that running a music school does not mean that it is purely teaching students. If the system is only about teaching, the students may lose their interest overtime. Organising events and competition give students chances to perform in front of public and boost their self-confidence. Giving prizes to students who win a competition will increase the competitiveness between students, which enables them to practise more and get better at their instrument.

[lotqwertl]

Some of the most viral videos I have on YouTube:

The time that I truly gain quite alot of viewers is around the time I am studying in Lasalle. I used the things that I have learn in my college and put these in my piano covers. Thanks to my team who marketed these videos, I managed to gain quite a lot viewers. From these videos, I learn that building one's popularity requires a really long process especially when it comes to entertainment businesses. It is best to start at a time when one is still studying, as this time is the time to plan out the structure of one's business. Finding friends who are interested in helping your business is also important to start a business, as business requires a team to start and manage it. It takes a lot of effort and intelligence to run it properly. Trusting each other is also important as well.

[lotqwertl]

My first video on YouTube, roughly 6 years ago, I uploaded my first video on YouTube. As far as I can remember, my father told me that the chances of me getting lots of people to watch my videos is quite slim, however, he still encouraged and helped me in recording my videos, which he say that there is nothing to lose if I were to upload a video on YouTube, its only a matter of how much I can invest my time in working hard to upload something. Despite the fact that I am busy with my school work, I constantly try to upload my videos of me playing song covers, after a certain point, my first video suddenly gain a significantly amount of views, which surprises me. I use that chance to find out what my specialty is in that market and use that to attract viewers to watch. After doing for a few years, my brother helped me in recording my videos and at the same time marketing them, my father decided to help me invest on a piano and some recording equipments to help enhance the sound recording. Because of their hardwork and effort, I am able to make it this far. After all these years, I realised that some of the most common things when it comes to not just opening a YouTube channel, but also a business is that one's success does not come from only one person alone, its a team that make use of different people's talent. My brother who helped me in recording and marketing, while I use my piano skills to show my talent on social media platform, while my parents help me by investing on the equipment that is essential for my recording.

[lotqwertl]

My YouTube channel :

My YouTube channel has really helped me a lot in my life. Giving me the confidence and also helping me to improve my playing. It gave me many ideas and also challenges to face. When it comes to uploading covers, I tend to find songs that are trending and also getting suggestions from my followers. This enables me to connect to my fans as it allows them to hear their favourite song that I have covered, and also challenging themselves to learn my covers. They also send their videos to us, in that way, I can comment on their playing, and also using this opportunity to interact with them as well. It is a tough and fun experience to have a YouTube channel as I have to try my best to upload something every 1 or 2 weeks. I not only upload piano covers, I also upload videos of me talking about my daily life and also some tips and tricks for my fans to learn my covers.

[lotqwertl]

Recording sessions :

I also plan to open a recording studio for recording pianos in my music school. My brother has been helping me with my recordings throughout the years of my careers and we plan on working together on this business. Before recording my covers, we spend at least 1 to 2 hours testing sound and testing the microphones that is suitable for the recording. I also use that time to practise my cover so the recording can be done smoothly. There are times that we do it till late at night, which is normal during recording sessions. I really enjoy the things my brother have helped me throughout the years.

[lotqwertl]

Social media career :

Opening a music school requires lots of time, effort and the strategies to successfully run it. I plan on starting it once I got my degree or possibly after my master-degree. But since this kind of business cannot be created in a matter of days, it has to start at a time when we are studying. I have social media platforms that allows me to show the piano arrangements I have done and to connect to my fans. I plan to use that as a way to promote myself, which is one of the factors that is beneficial for me to open a music school. After I got my degree, I plan to focus on conducting masterclasses on how I do my arrangements, so I can engage with my fans more. As I earn income from social media platforms and also performances that I have done through online or live. I plan to use that to start small and open a music school. I can use my popularity to attract customers and have them promote my school. I also have plans on doing online classes as it has shown to be quite effective during the covid 19 period.

[lotqwertl]

Overview of the project :

- Planning to open a music school

- setting up a programme for students who have interest in learning music. Finding a place which is near to new estates, which will have lots of kids who might have interest in learning music.

- Start by teaching students at home first. Familiarise myself with the business. Start to form my own programme for students to learn. If the students are able to learn efficiently, I might gain some recognition, which I might have more and more students. Invest in a music school, hire teachers to teach new students according to the programme I form.

challenges :

- After graduating, registering as a music teacher in The Singapore Music Teachers Association (SMTA), which will give extra recognition as a music teacher in the market.

- Forming a programme that enables students to learn effectively.

- Having the first student to teach

- referrals to help promote one's business

- Finding a place to set up a school

- Hiring teachers to help.

Competitors :

Understand their programme, the location of their school and the fees they get from the students (eg. Include packages that give students free trial lessons or include giving musical materials that helps them in learning music)

Goals :

Opening a music school and franchise it to people who are interested in starting a music school and follow the programme I created.

Strengths : making and playing my own piano arrangements

Weakness : lack of experience in doing business.

What's so different about my project :

Aiming to not just open a music school for students to learn, but to have students be interested in learning music.