The 33rd Top 10 Chinese Gold Songs Awards, held last week at the Hong Kong Science Park in Sha Tin, instead of the popular Hong Kong Coliseum venue, was poorly attended. RTHK, as the organiser of the annual music event, should have finally learned its lesson that a public broadcaster should never dabble in show business and commercial ventures.
Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen has in the past criticised RTHK for carrying live broadcasts of horse racing and organising Chinese pop song awards. Tsang was right because, as a public service broadcaster, the station should not have assumed the role of a commercial entity.
RTHK has stopped broadcasting horse racing, but its management still insists that hosting the pop song awards can help support and develop creativity in the local music industry. The station has been proved wrong as its music venture has come to a bitter end.
The controversy involving TVB and four major record labels last year over royalty fees has dramatically changed the local music industry landscape.
It has led to TVB boycotting singers of the four record companies and banning their appearances on its channels. The broadcaster then joined hands with Neway Karaoke Box to blacklist all songs produced by these companies.
It has even tried to replace the existing singers with a new generation of pop stars by hosting the singing competition The Voice.