This year may be the last time Jade Solid Gold’s annual music awards presentation will be held before its imminent death. Jade Solid Gold’s annual music awards have been around for 28 years. It is reported that TVB will discontinue the JSG annual awards and instead work with Hong Kong’s major radio stations: Commercial Radio, RTHK, and Metro Radio on a unified awards ceremony. This year’s winners of the Most Popular Artist Awards may be the last of an era. When asked if 2012 will be he last year for JSG annual music awards, TVB Director of Production, Sandy Yu (余詠珊) indicated that 2012 will most likely be the last year, “Basically it’s still to be determined, but we are pretty much leaning towards it.” She also said the talk of a combining all presentation ceremonies into one has been discussed for years, but has yet to be agreed on. TVB is currently more proactive in approaching the radio stations, and there have been several meetings recently to discuss implementation. It is an encouraging start and more meetings will be held to unify the music awards program in 2013. Sandy Yu said TVB’s intentions for a combined award is mainly for the good of the Hong Kong music industry. “We will have one Best Male Singer and one Best Female Singer, and everyone will agree on their status. In the movie industry, we have the Hong Kong Film Awards to represent the best of the industry, not multiple awards from different magazines or movie theater chains. With the current situation we have in the music industry, many will conclude that the awards are nothing but to please certain music companies. It’s a crazy situation,” Sandy justified. No Top Notch Singers for the Show? Since 2009, TVB has been in a stalemate with the Hong Kong Recording Industry Alliance Limited, dubbed as the “Big Four” music companies, over the copyright payment. Many singers such as Hacken Lee (李克勤), Eason Chan (陳奕迅), and Kay Tse (謝安琪) voiced their support for their respective record labels, and most, if not all of them were banned from TVB. Not to mention they lost any chance of winning any awards at the JSG Music Awards. Without some of the best singers and songs included, JSG has been criticized to be a less than credible awards presentation. Sandy Yu denied that the lack of top notch artistes is the reason for discontinuing the ceremony, and insisted the attempt for a unified music awards presentation is an attempt to move the music industry forward. The JSG music program will continue, but no there will not be an annual awards presentation from 2013 forward. Hong Kong Radio Stations Give Mixed Responses Regarding TVB’s proposal of a single ceremony to replace the current four, RTHK’s Program Director, John Fung (馮偉棠) is open to the idea, but there are still many details to be discussed. Commercial Radio already said they will not give up the Billboard Award Presentation Ceremony, but will look into TVB’s proposal, indicating that more details are needed. Metro Radio did not return the press’ inquiries. A Wait and See Attitude Emperor Entertainment Group (EEG) executive, Ng Yu (吳雨), and East Asia Music’s Director, Gary Chan (陳志光), will adopt a “wait and see” attitude since they are not familiar with how a single music ceremony works instead of four. Singer Kary Ng (吳雨霏) is looking forward to it, saying the music industry needs to be united. Charlene Choi (蔡卓妍) is more practical, “It is a wonderful idea to have one ceremony instead of four as I can cut back on the money I spend on my wardrobe.” Creds: ihktv
