THE IRON LADY WHO SMILES
Written by Writer on Wednesday, November 12th, 2008
THE IRON LADY WHO SMILES
Bussaba Daorueng has dedicated her life to assembling and maintaining one of the most successful music and entertainment companies in Thailand
ONSIRI PRAVATTIYAGUL and YINGYONG UN-ANONGRAK
Have you ever met anyone so ingrained in their work that they become inseparable from it? And it’s hard to tell where his or her working life begins and ends? A person who stands proudly and firm to the point that whatever questions are thrown at him or her are ultimately linked back to work or their much beloved organisation. The kind of person who refers to his or her boss with such revere that you can’t help but think he or she is some sort of deity. A person so religiously devoted to their work that they almost percolate a cult-like fervour, and possess such strong convictions in what they do, say and believe that it commands immediate respect and admiration? A rare individual who is deeply committed to their organisation much like suicidal teenagers are to Dungeons and Masters.
If your answer is no, then meet GMM Grammy’s CEO, co-founder and iron lady Bussaba Daorueng. Her loyalty to the company and to her boss, Paiboon Dumrongchaiyatham, whom she lovingly refers to as “Khun Paiboon” rather than Ah Ku or uncle (known to the rest of the common world). Bussaba is viewed as Paiboon’s right-hand woman whom he couldn’t possibly do without. And between the two of them, if Paiboon exemplifies a cut-throat businessman with a keen sense of financial stability, Bussaba, then, represents the creative, fun-loving, sharp qualities with an uncanny ability to remain where she is at today in this fickle music business - the top!
“I don’t think I have that much of a personal life,” said Bussaba, laughing. “I divide my time according to my work schedule. I never plan when my vacation is or when I’ll go on trips. I just check my yearly planner and have fun with work,” she explained.
While loitering around GMM Grammy Building’s Starbucks, a few of Grammy’s staff stopped by to say hello, and once they found out that “Outlook” was waiting to meet Bussaba Daorueng, they, on separate occasions, had nothing but praise for her. “She’s very kind and energetic. There’s no need for you to be intimidated by her. She really is a cool boss,” they all said, before leaving our Frappucinos to melt.
After much delay, Bussaba poked her head into the designated conference room, she smiled brightly and [sincerely] apologised for the long wait. It wasn’t hard to see why the staff at GMM Grammy are so fond of her; Bussaba exudes this shining ease, sun-kissed hospitality and extreme likability. It’s similar to meeting your friend’s cool, hippy-ish mother for the first time, and comparing her to your poor old mum. Her office was rather kempt; piles of papers strewn over her desk was the only area that appeared to be in slight disarray. And the books on the shelves, which she confesses to have never read (mostly due to lack of time) were given to her by GMM Grammy’s publishing company. She kindly offered “Outlook” to take some of the books home for the simple reason: “If I give them to you and you read and gain something from them, I’d like to think something good will come back to me too”.
Dressed all in black and sporting a funky pair of high boots, Bussaba seemed to bounce around happily as opposed to having the persona of a high-powered broker, which she actually is. Bussaba filed every question good-naturedly and was never reluctant to speak candidly about her personality, her only son and her working style. But whatever the topic was, strangely, she could lead it all back to her glorious baby, GMM Grammy. Then again, it’s not much of a wonder. If you had a heavy hand in building the biggest music label and entertainment empire from the ground up, then you too would probably be deeply integrated as she is. Now celebrating its 25th year, Bussaba lists how they plan to party on down with a big bang.
“The celebration will continue ’til next year since this year, there have been a lot of unfortunate incidents. We’ve started ‘Project Playlist’ … where we remaster the past classics and put them onto a CD format. Our songwriter project where we honour people behind the scene is well on the way. Next year we would like to do customer centric festivals, which we’ll divide into three categories: Pre-teen and teen, rock and retro. You know, we can easily celebrate our anniversary by simply making merits, but we want to give back to our audience as well,” she said.
Bussaba’s fate has been entwined with Paiboon ever since her college years. While studying at Thammasat University, a friend singled her out as outgoing and quirky, and suggested that she apply to Fareast Advertising, as they were looking for an intern. Her “strange and different” application caught the eye of Paiboon who immediately recruited her.
“I didn’t want to work in advertising, but he gave me a chance so I gave it a try, then I got hooked. I started as a copywriter and moved on to creative. When Khun Paiboon left, I followed. I always follow Khun Paiboon,” she said.
When Paiboon started his own mass communication and marketing, a brand-new window of opportunity opened right in front of Bussaba’s eyes.
“When we were a local agency, we couldn’t really compete with the international ones … so we thought about creating our own media channels. We wanted to tap into the teenage segment, so we created our own music programmes. I did everything I possibly could. It was a trial and error kind of thing,” she said.
“Back then, there wasn’t any proper, solid music labels so it was hard for us to secure music on our programme, therefore Khun Paiboon simply said: ‘Then we should create our own music’,” Bussaba added.
And as simple as that, Grammy Entertainment began to germinate. Paiboon raked in the late musical genius Raewat “Ther” Puttinan to take care of the music side of things. Bussaba says there was no business model of that kind to refer to back in the days, and all of them had to literally start from scratch. She recalled that they discussed the ideals of fair compensations, rights, management and the production process in detail. Bussaba was put in charge of promotional campaigns, music videos and later on concerts. But that wasn’t all she had to do.
“I was assigned to come in with lyrics, and I did it for one album. One album only. We got all these great musicians under the helm of Phi Ther, but no one to write the words. Khun Paiboon looked around and said to me, ‘You do it’, and that was that! I didn’t even know how to rhyme. It was so raw. I had to draw my own charts and create my own system to work it all out. And I was doing all of that on top of doing loads more stuff. I was never discouraged though. I don’t get discouraged. I always tell myself if there’s a will, then there’s a way,” she said.
“Can I still compose lyrics? Hmm, I think I still can,” she added, followed by a hearty laugh.
But GMM Grammy is far removed from those harsh days. They’ve become one of the most successful multi-billion baht business entities Thailand has ever seen through its many business ventures from recording, TV series and programmes, movies, radio or concert organisations.
These days Bussaba sees herself as an implementation unit that works on a project-based basis rather than a CEO. She lists her responsibilities covering brainstorming to problem solving projects, and admits to relying heavily on her team.
“Some people say I’m a traffic policewoman or a fire-fighter who puts out fires where needed. What kind of a boss am I? The least boss-like kind, I would say. I value teamwork tremendously. I’m only a small part of this organisation. I never feel like a ‘boss’. I feel more like someone who manages things for a win-win outcome. I think understanding is the most important thing. If you order people to do things without them understanding it clearly, they can only deliver for a short while. So it’s best to take the time to explain things clearly and let them grow from there.”
“It’s true that I’m very jai dee [soft, easy-going], so I have some strict people around me to do that,” Bussaba admitted.
Besides an organic managerial style, Bussaba also champions the importance of artist diversity - how one artist can be spun into a commodity beyond selling records, and artist management to race against piracy problems. She deems individuals as the most valuable asset rather than mere record sales that her company might have.
“This is a very detailed process. Your feet must always be on the constant move, ready to change positions. We draw road maps for our artists and encourage them to keep on working hard. When it doesn’t work, both parties should understand because both gave it their all. At the end of the day, it’s up to the audience to decide. Not us, not the artists,” she said.
GMM Grammy went through a period of hiring “outside the family” when it went public. Wisit Tantisunthorn was brought in to oversee the financial aspect while current Bangkok Governor, Apirak Kosayothin, was recruited to handle the management side. Both left the company without much fanfare or bang. Bussaba was appointed as CEO in 2002.
“Khun Paiboon thought it would be a better idea to hire people who weren’t so artist-based like all of us. So we tried. But at one point we discovered that our organisation didn’t have to be that concerned over financial matters. Our organisation is structured differently, and at the end of it all, we [founders] would be the ones that understand it most. I’m not saying that I’m better than anyone else, but I understand this organisation and I understand the people in it. I think we decided who would step up by doing a raffle! I never wanted to be a big fish, but if they wanted me to do it, I could. I’ve always worked as a team member, so nothing has really changed much,” she said, adding that since then customer-centric strategy has been introduced, and now GMM Grammy approaches different pre-determined segments with different strategies.
As busy as she is, Bussaba still manages to keep a close knitted family with one grown son - Mook-ek Jongmunkong - who started GMM Grammy’s indie offshoot, Sanam Luang. Bussaba revealed that her son is now taking a break from the management side of music and has retreated back to the musician mode he prefers.
“I’ve been so lucky with my kid. He’s never created any problems for us. The only thing I’ve wanted from him is to not be thrifty! I think penny pinchers are rather horrible. I didn’t groom him to take up music. He just grew up with it. On the weekends, if I’m not at concerts, I’m at home conducting meetings. It’s always been like that … and he’s quite used to it … since he was born. I’m also lucky that I have an extended family so I’ve had a lot of help along the way. I’ve never had to worry about practical housewife [chores] things like paying the electricity bill since I’ve got supporters,” she admitted.
Still, GMM Grammy is not without its numerous criticisms including plagiarism, doubtful artistic qualities, questionable business tactics that have gotten people screaming “monopoly!” to constant in-your-face, overly promoted, blank, manufactured pop stars who basically own a shipload of the media outlets.
“You know, there’s a natural process that will decide if we “force” ourselves, our artists and products on people. If it’s true, then people will stop supporting us. They know. Everything depends on “ratings”… if the ratings are bad then there’s no point for us to keep throwing our products in because no one will see it. We have radio stations but we never tell them to play only GMM Grammy music. We don’t believe in that. We make music that people want to request. It’s the same thing with all our other ventures. I personally don’t like over promotion,” she said.
“I think the people can decide for themselves … and I believe in us.”
Bangkok Post
Wednesday November 12, 2008
