There’s the business, and there is the man behind the business. I interviewed Norman Lai from AMA Hits, an online site for amateur music artists to showcase and sell their music. He isn’t just behind his business, but he is behind his amateur artists. And, I found him inspirational. Truly, he lives by his own words; ’sweat equity’ means paying your dues by doing something that you love.

Tell me about Norman Lai.

I have a software application background, website background. I’ve been doing IT for the last 16 years.  I studied sales and marketing in college. I actually hated computer guys when I was younger. Now, I am in the business. Go figure!

We build different things here (NAC Media). My core business is building applications for small to medium-sized businesses, not actual websites but actual software applications.

What was behind the motivation to start up AMA Hits?

Music. I’ve always loved (music) ever since I was a little kid. That’s the biggest love I’ve had. I don’t play musical instruments. I don’t sing or anything. I just like music in general.

So, I thought about it. I go, you know what, there’s got to be something for guys who aspire to be someone. No one looks at them. So, I said, I’ve got the technical knowledge, I’ve got the staff, I can build something. I can build something and fill a need somewhere.

My wife’s Filipino.  There’s a huge Filipino community and they love to sing…I’m listening to people sing, and I’m going, you know what? There is a lot of undiscovered talent out there.

…I thought by starting a site and by letting these people have a place to put their music, have a place to sell their music if they want to sell their music, it will be the perfect place for them…They all have a fan base of some sort.

There’s YouTube. What’s so different about AMA Hits?

…There are a few places out there that allow you to upload your music for people to listen to. They’re all semi-free services… you somehow want to break into the music industry, but you don’t know how…The industry thinks that amateurs should just be giving away their music. Who gives away anything these days?…The reality is that the odds of getting discovered and signed by a big record label with the other sites are pretty slim because there are millions of people doing the exact thing that you are.

We’re different.  We are going to the industry,  sending out the message to everybody; to radio stations, to producers, to TV stations, to magazines like yourselves, DefineMag, and we are saying there is a new avenue right now for amateurs. Are you are always looking for new music? My daughter is a perfect example. She doesn’t listen to mainstream music; she looks for new different music online. She looks for independents or indie bands or unsigned artists because she likes different kinds of music. There is a following for that type of music out there. There is a bigger and bigger following nowadays.

What happens when the artists become big? Do you do anything to support them once they make the next step to become big?

Our site is more of a stepping stone. We don’t have aspirations yet, I’m not going to say that we’re never going to have aspirations, but we don’t have them yet to sign musicians. What we want to do is to give them a place to go. Let’s say you are a person that sings. And, you’re great at it, and your friends tell you that you are great at it. Where are you going to put your music? You can’t get on iTunes, you can’t get on Rhapsody, (or) Napster because you aren’t signed. You’re just Judy sitting at home that can sing!

Right now, who is your pick for someone that we should look out for on AMA Hits?

There is this one artist who is really good.  Her name is J’anelle Avery. She is a very aggressive artist. She is pushing her own music. She fills out her whole profile correctly. She goes on her Twitter and she tweets about her songs. She tweets about AMA Hits.  On Facebook, the same thing. And, you know what? She is really talented. She has a song that sounds like a Top 40 hit. It’s just a matter of time of getting it out there.

Ok, and let’s be honest here. There are just as many good and talented artists as there are a lot more really bad and not-so-talented artists.  I think of William Hung.  Do you let the good and bad talent just run it’s course, or do you do some weeding out of the bad talent?

We let it run its course because everyone needs a chance.  We are not the judges, but those people (not-so-talented) never make it to the Top 11.  There is an automated section on the website that says Top 11 songs. That’s determined by how many times a song has been sampled.  So, we have no control over that…We should give the other guys a chance because we don’t want to single anybody out.  That’s the whole point of this.

What’s the big dream at the end of the day?

We eventually want to start our own label…A guy like David Foster, or any big producer, can only see so many people at a time because they are so busy. We’re going to see thousands of people come through our site on a monthly basis…We can recognize the talent, we have the contacts, we can push the demos out…and say, ‘Look, you need to listen to this.’

How do you do this? How do you make this work as an entrepreneur?

You have to be willing to work your ass off and get almost nothing for it. When I started my last business, I worked 16 hours a day, and I didn’t make any money for two years. That’s a long time to live on Kraft Macaroni and Cheese and driving beaters.  But, you know what? It’s the sacrifice that you have to make if you want to be successful. If you ask any successful person in the world, they will tell you the exact same thing.

A lot of young guys think they can just open up a business and make tons of money without a lot of hard work. It doesn’t really work that way.  It’s the bigger picture. I see too many of the young guys saying, “Well I believe in it, but how much am I going to get? I can’t do it without getting paid.” That means you don’t believe in it. If you don’t believe in it, you shouldn’t be doing it. That’s what I believe.

Truly, he lived by his own words; ‘sweat equity’ means paying your dues by doing something that you love.

AMA Hits is Tomorrow’s Hits Today.

Judy Lee

Judy has an orange bag. In it, she has her essentials including her MacBook, shiny iPhone, and Moleskine. They are her must-haves because she is always on the go. Living the Vancouver life, she is passionate about working out, eating out, and hashing out strategic plans for good marketing.

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