Wen-Bin Shih, who was famous for his singing and writing of Taiwanese hit song Singer and known as the Godfather of e-sports, recently had a speech on "Pop Music and Video Game Contest" in the Department of Pop Music Industry, South Taiwan University of Science and Technology. The speech attracted hundreds of students to listen. Mr. Shih is currently the Director of the Taiwan e-Sports Association, and is also a council member of the Taipei pop music industry. While he was good at pop songs and sings when he was young, he is now passionate about making game music and promoting the pioneering work of e-sports industrialization.
【President Deng-Maw Lu of Southern University of Science and Technology (second from left), Director Wen-Bin Shih (third from left), and the group of participants in the lecture.]
Director Shih has unique insights in the field of pop music. He said that following others is not popular at all; it is just like doing business. Songs like “Kiss and Say Goodbye” and “Insider Voice after Drinking” clearly showed that the music makers would rather be hard for people to take rather than follow others. He thought that commercial pop music and game music are usually limited to the constraints of traditional concepts and the maintenance of corporate image, which may become restrictions on artistic creation. Yet, it is hoped that these burdens can be put aside and more attention can be paid to creative activities.
【Mr. President Deng-Maw Lu of Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology was delivering a speech.】
Director Shih further stated that the development of Taiwan's e-sports industry has become more and more mature and related to job opportunities, especially behind-the-scenes work. For example, there are more than 30,000 e-sports players, but the demand for related jobs is as high as 300,000. There is no need to worry about employment issues. He also mentioned the difference in sponsorship between TPA team of Taiwan and the foreign teams of League S2. Funding, venue and other issues require the government to support and learn from Korea, European and American countries. In particular, the huge difference between Taiwan and foreign in wages can make domestic players move to a larger arena and cause loss of talents and players. The government should face this problem squarely.
【Director Wen-Bin Shih of Taiwan e-Sports Association had a speech on "Pop Music and Video Game Contest" in the Department of Pop Music Industry, South Taiwan University of Science and Technology, vigorously promoting e-sports.】
Director Shih believes that e-sports is a huge cultural and creative industry. It combines music and animation together, creating a cultural and creative industry with great market potential. Art is particularly important. In addition, it can be promoted to the whole world when promoted in many languages. For example, Mario Marketing with HELLO KITTY is based on successful marketing techniques, which created huge economic benefits for entertainment industry.
【Many students enthusiastically participated in the speech.】
President Deng-Maw Lu of Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology said that Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology is at the cutting edge of the times. The Department of Pop Music Industry and the Department of Multimedia and Computer Entertainment are closely related to the two most popular industries currently. STUST has invested nearly NT$200 million into creating a great teaching space for pop music. It purchased the most advanced teaching equipment and drew from the resources of popular music and film centers in the Cultural and Creative Park in Tainan. With stage production training, students will receive a complete training in popular music industry. With its integration of the visual communication design, multimedia design, and product design, STUST has been developing a great variety of performances, cultural creation, design talents, and production and learning consistency, creating from its curriculum a lot of future stars for the industry.