The objective of this academic article is to study about the online publication of Thai folksong literatures from two composers, Kong Huay Rai and Chutima Sodasak, who have publicized their works via YouTube website. This article discusses three works: Sai Wa Si Bo Tim Kan (You Have Said Already You Won‟t Leave Me), Khu Khong (The Soulmate); both written by Kong Huay Rai, and Poo Sao Ka Law (Party-Animal Lassie) by Chutima Sodasak, sung by Lamyai Haitongkham. All of these have been presented to the audience through YouTube channels.
FOLKSONGS: ONLINE BUSINESS PHITCHAYAWEE THONGKLANG1 and RATTANA CHANTAO2 Thai department, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Khon Kaen University Abstract The objective of this academic article is to study about the online publication of Thai folksong literatures from two composers, Kong Huay Rai and Chutima Sodasak, who have publicized their works via YouTube website This article discusses three works: Sai Wa Si Bo Tim Kan (You Have Said Already You Won‟t Leave Me), Khu Khong (The Soulmate); both written by Kong Huay Rai, and Poo Sao Ka Law (Party-Animal Lassie) by Chutima Sodasak, sung by Lamyai Haitongkham All of these have been presented to the audience through YouTube channels The study, which analyzes the influence of music phenomenon to online popularity on YouTube, reveals that until nowadays each of these three songs has earned tremendous views on YouTube: 369 million views for Khu Khong, which is the song of a Thai TV series Naki (Nagi, “Naga Goddess”), 13 million views for Sai Wa Si Bo Tim Kan, and 335 million views for Poo Sao Ka Law This phenomenon corroborates that representing music production works on YouTube becomes a cutting-edge online business strategy as it provides artists with a decent chance to earn tremendous popularity and establish their audience base Therefore, YouTube can be concluded as a highly effective business tool for showcasing music production works as a mainstream channel, gaining more positive acceptance reflected by the increasing numbers of views and follows, and maximizing the benefit from online business advertisement Keywords : Folksong, Folksong Literature, Online Business, YouTube Ph.D Student of Thai Language, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Khon Kaen University, Thailand Lecturer of Thai department, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Nakhon Ratchasima Rajabhat University, Thailand Lecturer of Thai department, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Khon Kaen University, Thailand: corresponding author 947 Folksong and Online Business Nowadays, technology plays a significant role in aiding music listeners as it both increases their convenience and economizes their time factor According to a survey in 2015, internet usage among Thai people has considerably increased Considering between the method of access; mobile devices and computers, 82.7 percent of the internet access came from mobile devices (Public Organization, 2015), which supports the fact that internet is an ideal source for music listening because it provides a wide range of music, facilitates consumers‘ reach to songs, enables extra services such as music downloading, or enables audio-visual alternatives on YouTube The significant benefit of online music listening is it becomes more user-friendly and offers wider range of music options through more categories: artists, albums, genres, labels, popularity, album cover, lyrics, which helps consumers select the right music of their choices (Possakorn Pongnetrpanich and Kritsana Wisamitanant, 2016: 80) Video clip is one of good online substitutes for compact disc (CD) Because of growing popularity, music providers need to create collections of music to be provided to consumers through applications Raekkwan Sawasdipat and Pornthip Yenjabok (2014:12), who wrote an academic journal about Mono Music Record Label‘s YouTube marketing communication strategy, found that YouTube becomes the main channel for representing the record label‘s artists and their works Besides, the largest proportion of popularity gained was contributed by releasing music videos (MVs) with the length of a semi-short film and creating YouTube channels to audience with generous choices of music videos It also helped to publicize artists and their works and earn them greater positive responses This strategy, hence, has become Mono Music‘s most effective marketing selling point As music market grows more and more competitive, increasing more music distribution channel therefore becomes a suitable solution In the present, the importance and popularity of CD fades because the advance of technology has generated various means of substitutions such as music downloads, which promotes time economization, or pirate cassettes, which reduces music production cost Accordingly, in order to combat against these threats, music providers need to establish and develop online business channels that can benefit musical professionals, regardless of labelled or freelance One of those means is YouTube communication This academic article therefore aims to study the three folksong literatures: Khu Khong, Sai Wa Si Bo Tim Kan, and Poo Sao Ka Law All pieces have been publicized and exhibited on YouTube website, which has made a phenomenal difference to Thai folksong music by substantially growing new songsters‘ popularity measured from numbers of views and follows from YouTube audience Consequently, new composers can reap the maximized benefits from showcasing their works through online business channels as they can debut without relying excessively on record labels 948 The Online Presentation of Folksongs YouTube brings about new phenomenon to music industry because musical composer can express their song on YouTube They can gain popularity, debut through the online platform, and enjoy a great success, which becomes the inspiration for modern composers Therefore, I would Figure The View Number of Sai Wa Si Bo Tim Kan Source : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= yiDgLAl8soc like to discuss about two composers who become greatly known and earn tremendous popularity across YouTube in this article Kong Huay Rai Akkaradej Yodjumpa, known professionally as Kong Huayrai or Kongla Yodjumpa, is a singer and composer from Sakon Nakhon province He enjoyed a great success from exhibiting his composition works on YouTube because of distinctiveness in term of vocal, lyrics and melody composition, and performance, in his works Distinctive vibe of modern north-eastern Thai musical style is incorporated in Kong‘s pieces, especially Sai Wa Si Bo Tim Kan, which received a substantial popularity from general public and won Mahanakhon Awards in 2017 (Wikipedia, 2018) Figure Kong Huay Rai Source : https://www.google.co.th/search?q= Kong + Huay Rai Kong composed the piece from his own experience, depicting the agony of his heart bruised by the broken promise The lyrics, combined with Sarapanya melody, is written with ancient Isan (north eastern Thai) dialect Having gained abundant followers in his own YouTube channel, he joined Sound Mee Haeng Record, the new-wave record label, having his original work re-edited, sound re-recorded, and MV re-filmed Currently, this new edition gained 13 million views on YouTube, which is incomparable with the original one Nevertheless, Sai Wa Si Bo Tim Kan has been sung frequently in various singing competitions (Theerapat Charoensuk, 2018) The sensation in this masterpiece thus provided him a good opportunity to contribute in Naki, a TV series on Channel 3, by composing songs namely Khu Khong (The Soulmate), the original soundtrack for the show Naki‘s popularity, belief about Naga Figure The View Number of Khu Khong 949 Source : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v =wsHNUOgJJZU (imaginary creature in Thai and Indian literatures that resembles a snake combined with many kinds of animals), and the lyrics of Khu Khong, which is an Isan-dialect love ballad, portraits about the steadfast love that will never fade away no matter how long the time flies or how impregnable the obstacle is Despite breaching the fate, the couple is still willing to belong together at any cost or sacrifice Khu Khong; therefore, means the soulmates who will always wait and be there for each other forever This song became one of the hits in 2017, reaching 369 million views on YouTube currently This song won many prizes: Looktoong Mahanakhon Awards for Most Popular Song, JOOX Awards for Folksong of the Year, and Nataraj Award for Best Drama Music (Wikipedia, 2018) These successes made Kong the first frontline Thai folksong artist who earned popularity and debuted via online channel, which became a new phenomenon of Thai folksong music He was then invited to perform as a presenter for different product brands, persuaded to act in movies, and hired to write original soundtracks Chutima Sodapak is a composer from Bueng Kan province who presented her work on the YouTube at the age of only 17 Her career as a singer started when she began to write the first song, Bo Kwaang Taang Eye (I‘ll Get Outta Your Way, My Sweet), and launched it on both her personal Facebook and YouTube channel Next, Chutima wrote another song, A-Deet-Koey-Pung (My Ruined Past) and publicized it online Later, a local record label became interested in Chutima‘s work and persuaded her to join the team, which made her one of the prolific key persons who generate a great number of dramatically popular music works Chutima wrote another song Poo Sao Ka Law (Party-Animal Lassie) for a folksong singer, Lamyai Haithongkham The Song depicts the lifestyle and the characteristic of Thai provincial girls in general with a simple and uncomplicated language, such as the starting verse that says, ―Hao-KaePoo-Sao-Ka-Law Bo-Maen-Poo-SaoKa-Rian Bo-Dai-Ka-Yun-Mun-Pian Pakka-Si-Kian-Young-Dye-YuemMoo.‖ This phrase means ―I'm a party animal girl; not a nerdy one, so I am not that studious, you know I still always need to borrow my friends‘ pens at every lecture.‖ This candid, Figure Chutima Sodapak unfussy way of language usage; as a Source : https://www.google.co.th/search?q= result, effortlessly grabs the audience's Chutima + Sodapak attention because it can easily touch their emotion Having been launched on the YouTube The Song became highly successful and so great a sensation that the Prime Minister needed to talk about it in his speech Despite the absence of music video, Poo Sao Ka Law still met an extraordinary success because of the lyrics written with a down-to-earth and 950 straightforward vocabularies depicting the actual lifestyle and social context of northeastern Thai people in the modern days (Theerapat Charoensuk, 2018) Chutima has been invited to perform in many concerts Her phenomenal success epitomizes a music professional who makes a stellar debut on YouTube As a conclusion, YouTube; therefore, becomes one of innovative means for new-entry music professionals to reap the maximized benefit from online business Summary Both Kong Huay Rai and Chutima Sodapak started their career from producing their own music works, publicizing those pieces on YouTube, and gaining popularity from a small group of audience Eventually, they became highly successful Nowadays, Sai Wa Si Bo Tim Kan, the song about a provincial man with a broken heart, has received 13 million views on YouTube Moreover, because of the popularity of the TV soap opera Naki, its original soundtrack Khu Khong (The Soulmate) has earned many prizes, especially Nataraj Awards for Best Drama Music, and thus 368 million views on YouTube at present Figure The View Number of Poo Sao Ka Law Additionally, Poo Sao Ka Law (PartySource : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v Animal Lassie), the song that talks =xir5VPhlJ_M about Northeastern Thai society and lifestyle, sung by Lamyai Haitongkham, has become so big a Talk-of-the-Town that it now has been earning 335 views on YouTube The success of these three songs on YouTube has implanted new-wave music professionals with the motivation to debut without relying on any big record labels They can simply produce their own music works from home and just launch them straightaway on YouTube Online music business has dramatically grown, which thus enables music producers to showcase their creations or brainchildren online and allows music listeners to enjoy the wider range of music choices It is a convenient choice for artists, composers, and singers, to produce and exhibit their works at any point of time Accordingly, to act in line with the advent of Thailand 4.0, which Thai economy will be mainly engineered by both technological development, knowledge base, and creativity, it needs to be ensured that all parties involved in music industry be supported continually and able to survive genuinely Therefore, the productions of songs and music, which combines both scientific technology and artistic creativity together, need to be decently fostered and consistently developed in order to propel Thailand‘s knowledge-based economy forward 951 Reference The View Number of Khu Khong ( The Soulmate) (2018) Retrieved March 20, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsHNUOgJJZU The View Number of Poo Sao Ka Law ( Party-Animal Lassie) (2018) Retrieved March 20, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xir5VPhlJ_M The View Number of Sai Wa Si Bo Tim Kan (You Have Said Already You Won‘t Leave Me) (2018) Retrieved March 20, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiDgLAl8soc Chutima Sodapak (2018) Retrieved March 22, 2018, from https://www.google.co.th/ search?q=Chutima + Sodapak 10 Electronic Transactions Development Agency (Public Organization) (2015) Thailand Internet 11 User Profile 2015 Retrieved March 21, 2018, from 12 https://www.marketingoops.com/reports/behaviors/edta-thai-internet-user-2015/ 13 Kong Huay - Rai (2018) Retrieved March 22, 2018, from 14 https://www.google.co.th/search?q= Kong Huay + Rai 15 Photsakorn Pongnatpanich and Krisana Visamitanan (2016) Factors Affecting Purchase 16 Intention on Online Music Streaming Service of Smartphone Users in Thailand 17 BU ACADEMIC REVIEW 15, (July – December) : 69 – 82 18 Raegkwan Swasdipat and Porntip Yanjabok (2014) Marketing communication of mono 19 Music by youtube channel Retrieved March 20, 2018, from 20 https://www.spu.ac.th/commarts/files/2014/06/%E0%B8%9A%E0%B8%97%E 0%B8%8 21 4%E0%B8%A7%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%A1.pdf 22 Teerapat Charoensook (2018) ―YouTube Folksong: No Record Label Needed For A 23 Country Folk to Win 100 Million Views‖ Retrieved 24 March 22, 2018, from https://voicetv.co.th/read/rJHH238IM 25 Wikipedia (2018) Kong Huay - Rai Retrieved March 20, 2018, from 26 https://th.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B8%81%E0%B9%89%E0%B8%AD%E0% B8%87_%E 27 0%B8%AB%E0%B9%89%E0%B8%A7%E0%B8%A2%E0%B9%84%E0%B8 %A3%E0%B9%88 952 ... maximized benefits from showcasing their works through online business channels as they can debut without relying excessively on record labels 948 The Online Presentation of Folksongs YouTube brings... launch them straightaway on YouTube Online music business has dramatically grown, which thus enables music producers to showcase their creations or brainchildren online and allows music listeners...Folksong and Online Business Nowadays, technology plays a significant role in aiding music listeners as it both