ALL OR NOTHING — ATAS ANGIN FESTIVAL GOES FOR BROKE WITH BIGGEST LOCAL MUSIC LINE-UP DESPITE LAST YEAR’S LOW TURNOUT

KUALA LUMPUR, July 27 — There was a time when getting to see a commercial artist sharing the stage with an independent act was something out of the ordinary for Malaysian music lovers.

While it has happened before, such occurrences a rarity especially under the banner of a non-mainstream concert or festival.

In recent years, the gap has been narrowing, with more mainstream names playing music festivals alongside independent counterparts, such as Hausboom Music 2023 where Malaysian rock queen Ella graced the stage alongside pop-rock band Exists.

Tamasya Anak Muda earlier this year saw award-winning singer-songwriter Datuk M. Nasir performing with the new generation talents while Loop Music Festival held in May saw Datuk Seri Siti Nurhaliza and Dayang Nurfaizah headlining the event.

And now, in hope of further bridging the gap, the upcoming Atas Angin Festival 2024 (AAF2024) are bringing legendary 70ss pop band Alleycats and 2009 Anugerah Juara Lagu winner Aizat Amdan.

Speaking to Malay Mail, Atas Angin founder and managing director in 28-year-old Arif Imran Abu Bakar, also known as Bam, said that a local music festival should celebrate local music as a whole.

“Take the Indonesia’s music festival Pesta Pora for example, where mainstream singer Melly Goeslaw was listed together with independent ska band Tipe X.

“A festival can include all and the market is big enough, and it's a ‘music’ festival after all, so there really shouldn’t be segregation between independent and commercial."

Arif, who has organised countless gigs featuring independent bands across Malaysia for the last six years with his Atas Angin team, debuted their first AAF back in 2022 – by far their most successful event to date.

The first instalment, which took place at Gamuda Cove in Dengkil, featured 32 performers including local punk rock band No Good, reggae and neo soul band Salammusik and Noh Salleh’s Da Vagabonds with around 6,000 in attendance.

Following the success of their first festival, the Atas Angin team decided to go big for their next one coming up in August 2023, boasting a total of 75 local performers with this time around to perform on the rooftop MyTown, in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur.

AAF2023 however turned out to be a humbling lesson for the team of passionate youngsters, as the turnout was disappointing to say the least, with only 1,900 attending the event, causing the organisers to suffer losses of about RM180,000.

“We realised that we couldn't just simply throw out money at everything.

“Last year we were still enjoying the profits from our previous festival, so during AAF2023, we kind of went on a spending spree.

“In terms of festival equipment and performers, where we didn’t take the initiative to negotiate with the suppliers, we would just agree with their initial pricing,” said Arif, adding that AAF2023 cost them RM700,000.

Instead of sitting back and licking their wounds, Arif and his team took a step back, learnt from their mistakes and decided to come back with a renewed vision.

The solution?

Coming back with their biggest outing yet for AAF2024 where 101 performers are set to perform across five stages in a 15-hour non-stop music festival.

All of this, without any sponsors and the cost fully borne by them from proceeds of their previous events and gigs.

But their lessons from AAF2023 meant that they were more wary of their spending, and they managed to trim costs to only RM500,000 for AAF2024.

“First is the supplier. Our mistake last year was thinking that more expensive meant quality, but it turned out that the equipment they were using was just the same as the others, some of it are in worser condition.

“So this year, we decided to work with those who we have already established a relationship with, people who we’ve worked with over the years from marquee tent suppliers to stages and stage productions.

“Some of the suppliers even gave us special prices on equipment and we also managed to cut our costs through negotiations with artists ,” he said.

Although fairly confident with AAF2024 and its lineup hitting half of the targeted ticket sales so far, Arif has not ignored the possibility of a repeat of last year.

“Let's say if this year we couldn’t reach our KPI, maybe we’ll have no choice but to change the direction of Atas Angin.

“At a certain point, we need to treat it as a business and if the product we put out is not selling, we’ll have to take it off the shelves.

“That’s why it’s important for people to come and support us, so that we can continue giving back like how we did with our previous events such as introducing the Rising stage which is dedicated to new indie bands to get experience in performing at festivals,” he said.

Apart from AAF, Atas Angin is one of the most active gig organisers today for local indie bands in Malaysia, with shows almost on a weekly basis.

Solo tickets for AAF2024 priced at RM159 are still available while duo and group category tickets have already sold out.

Other performers who are set to perform at AAF2024 this August 3 at MyTown also include Amir Jahari, Spooky Wet Dreams, Bittersweet, Iqbal.M, Plague of Happiness and more.

For more information on AAF2024, click here.

2024-07-27T07:03:16Z dg43tfdfdgfd