Pathway Series: Lester Lim – Retsel Mil Publications

When discussing the music industry, most people tend to think of prominent performance roles like musicians and conductors.

How about other careers in the music industry? Our new series, Pathway, hopes to shine the spotlight on lesser-known careers in the music industry that contribute to the vibrancy of the band scene.

The Band Post is honoured to feature sheet music retailer and publisher Mr Lester Lim, the founder and the Representative Manager of Retsel Mil Publications (RMP), and co-founder and General Manager of Retsel Mil Japan.

When discussing the music industry, most people tend to think of prominent roles like musicians and conductors, while music publishers are rarely mentioned. What initially drew you to the music industry and founding Retsel Mil Publications (RMP) in 2002?

It was started by accident when we needed to print Tales of the Sea by Soichi Konagaya for SYF 2003 to distribute it to all participating bands.

Over the years, most of our products cater to school events like SG50, National Day, Speech Day and Seasonal events. 

The basic intent to publish something is to document an event or an announcement to disseminate it to the masses. Interested parties (readers) and collaborators (e.g., product advertisers) will contribute to fund the prints and distribution. Readers buy the publications and advertisers fund the prints. Over time this becomes similar to business transactions and jobs were created. Industrial rules like copyrights rules slowly came into play too. 

In cultural and artistic terms, it is to preserve and promote the expressive ideas of artists. Artists must be proud of their cultures and emotionally sensitive to want to express them artistically through music, dance, painting etc..

My role as a publisher helps to curate the ideas of wind band composers. Band students not only learn how to play an instrument but also the cultures of the world.

In 2021, RMP established its group company, Retsel Mil Japan LLC and also secured an exclusive music distributorship agreement with Brain Co. Ltd, a well-established wind, classical and traditional music recording and publishing house in Japan. How did your close working relationship with the Murakami family of Brain Music start?

I have been a sheet music retailer since 1997. My company represents many publishers globally and we have very close relationships with each of them. 

The founder of Brain Music, in particular, is always very concerned with the Band education development. Most published Band music titles are teaching materials for Band teachers to teach with. There are teaching methods for pedagogic development too.

Over the years, I have had the privilege and opportunities to observe and learn from the various operations of Japanese band industry; from band teachings, instrument manufacturing, music scores development to concert management. These contributed to my understanding of the eco-system and business environment of the industry.

The Murakami family understands my passion to curate the works of South East Asia and so volunteered their “factory” to help produce the works for distribution.

RMP not only curates and publishes band compositions and music arrangements in the Asian region but also discovers and promotes up and coming musicians. Could you explain more about each of these roles and how they look like in a typical day’s work?

How do you find out about new music?

The emphasis of our publications are education materials; meaning band music that caters more to the learning needs of band students. We specialise in curating wind ensemble works of South East Asian cultures and introduce them to the world.

As a small company, we do not have big budgets to commission composers to write new music. We often look out for new works that were performed at concerts and we approach the composers to see if they would want us to introduce their works to international audiences.

Upon receiving a composition, it has to be sent for editing by our editor. There are industry rules and standards to meet. A professional engraver or typesetter will prepare the pages so they are both appealing and easy to read and turn while performing. 

A good band will be engaged to play through the piece and make a recording sound sample. The sales and marketing team will take over to promote the piece. It will then be sent to retailers to sell in their shops.

How do you discover and promote new composers and young talents?

Composers are normally introduced to us through word of mouth and recommendation. As a small company, we are not able to promise composers a substantial payout. I prefer to have in-depth discussions with composers to get a mutual understanding of the nature of the business.

The composers I prefer are passionate in life, have worldly visions and enjoy creating music that depicts lives and the environment. 

Our music editor and engraver must be able to work with them amicably to improve their craft to meet industrial standards.

Are certain types of pieces more sought after? Why so?

We mainly serve school bands with music that are of educational value. Folk songs of each country are the most essential to teach folk culture. Injecting folk elements in our music and setting them at around grade 3 level will make them appealing to school students. 

What makes a piece/ composition appealing to you?

It really depends on who the target audience is. The vast majority of our bands in Singapore are school bands, so music that is relatively simple to understand is more popular. We do have some audiences who prefer music that is difficult to perform though. I guess the technical challenges are as fun as playing computer games! 

As a conductor, I perform music that general audiences like. I do play some academic band pieces for players’ nostalgic fun too.

What are some highlights of your career as Retsel Mil’s Founder and Representative Manager so far?

I have been given the privilege to serve in our band scene by preparing and distributing band music to many bands to facilitate music learning. This is already an honour.

Being able to partner up with Brain/Bravo Music is to have our music recognised at international level. This means generations of band students are well trained and have met international standards.

We were able to showcase South East Asian composers and their works in The Midwest Clinic in December of 2023 and 2024 at McCormick Place West in Chicago, Illinois, USA. This is one of the biggest showcases of all things band in the world.

We are constantly receiving news and information of bands around the world performing our music. This is very encouraging to us too.

Has the publishing business changed over the years since 2002, especially with the advancements in technology and the Internet revolution? How so?

Yes! Tremendously! Many aspects from the manufacturing of music scores to the operation of the trade have been transformed. Things are more convenient and fast now. Almost immediate! 

Platforms like YouTube and Spotify exposed music learners to good performances and references. Band teachers can better understand the music they want to teach to their students before they acquire them.

On the flip side, sheet music retailers are slowly being displaced. My primary job as a sheet music retailer will soon disappear as publishers sell directly to end users in PDF format.

Composers may also sell directly to end users in this way too.

This badly disrupts the industry as many jobs will be replaced.

To produce a piece of music to sell, it has to go through an editor, an engraver, a band to record sound samples, recording engineers, sales and marketing, transportation and retailers, so many jobs are at stake. As a consumer society, we are not too aware of the processes of making a set of music. 

If the whole supply chain collapses, we will not be able to sustain the industry. Not many will be able to pursue a music career too.

What sort of skills and qualities are important in your line of work?

First and foremost we need to understand the purpose of publishing music and its relation to the development of arts, culture and education.

Then, we need the ability to understand what the market needs. Singapore’s Band education is almost entirely government sponsored, it is totally different from most countries. Band activities are very costly and all members of the society need to invest a lot both in efforts and money to make it work.

So, it is hard to acquire the necessary skills to do the job here if you are not exposed internationally to understand how to help bands who are not financially equipped.

Would having an educational background in music and/or business give a young person an edge in this industry? 

Yes to both! You will need to know what band teachers need to teach a class. Some examples are how to prepare the materials for their convenience of use and how students relate to reading materials and their contents.

Business knowledge is crucial to run the daily operations to sustain it.

Finally, what advice would you give to young people who are interested in entering the music publishing industry?

If you are super passionate about culture and a certain type of music, it is good to be able to curate them. Join a foreign publisher where you can see the whole production process. There are many departments, so choose a suitable one.

It is very difficult to run it as a business. I like to joke that a publisher needs to be able to run his own life successfully before he can help his composers’. It’s a life-long money burning endeavour! 

Get a day job and do publishing in your free time!