บทบาทของระบบธุรกิจเทปเพลงไทยสากลต่อการสร้างสรรค์ผลงานเพลง / ศมกมล ลิมปิชัย = The impact of the tape cassette business on creativity of Thai popular songs / Samakamon Limpichai
Thai popular song cassette business has played an important role during the past decade. This business has had an enormous impact on the creativity of song artists. As these artists are confined within the circle of commercial system, a number of their songs lack standard and quality. Their works have become more like “commercial products” rather than “artistic products.” This thesis is aimed to study the history, development, and the present situation of the Thai popular song tape cassette business as well as the ways and means of the artists’ creativity. The hypothesis proposes that: firstly, the competition has resulted in artists aiming to gain profit from the market rather than giving attention to the qualitative value of songs; secondly, commercialism has caused most songs to become monotonous and imitative. In this thesis, the researcher collected materials and data from questionnaires in order to accumulate different views of artists concerning the creativity of their songs and the present situation in tape cassette business circle. The outcome of the research indicates that the production of songs rely on the concept which has been set by producers and due to the direction of the market. The circumstances which have affected the artists and their imagination stem from the fact that the business system of Thai popular song tape cassette demands artists to be constantly ready to create work. Moreover, many artists are encouraged to create in order to survive and profit instead of pursuing the ethics of art. Therefore, the first hypothesis is proven correct. Because artists attempt to create song s which are expected to be widely accepted, they have to observe the kind of popular songs which appeal to the audience so that they could follow the trend. As the result, most Thai popular song tape cassettes have little difference from one another, hereby, proving the second hypothesis to be true. In order to improve the Thai popular song tape cassette business system, producers, artists, and audience should all co-operate according to the following: the producers must take responsibility by encouraging artists to improve their skill and virtuosity; the artists should be aware of their role in creating “art” not “commodity”; the audience should have value judgement in what kind of songs they consume.
