Thuy Nga
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| Thuy Nga Productions, Ltd. | |
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| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | |
| Headquarters | HQ: Paris
Sales: Westminster, Toronto, Reservoir |
| Key people | Marie To: President/CEO Paul Huynh: Vice-President/COO |
| Industry | Music |
| Website | Official:[1]
Europe:[2] USA:[3] |
Thuy Nga Productions (also known as Thuy Nga Paris, or simply Thuy Nga ; Vietnamese: Trung Tâm Thúy Nga, literally "Thuy Nga Centre". English translation: Blue Swan Productions.) is a Vietnamese-immigrant music company, based in Paris, France. It also has sales branches at Westminster, California (USA) and Toronto, Ontario (Canada). It used to have an official sales branch and distribution center in the town of Bankstown in Sydney, Australia, but due to low production sales, the branch closed and transferred its distribution rights in Australia to a local music branch in Reservoir, Victoria (Australia).
Thuy Nga is one of the most respected, and most popular Vietnamese music companies in the world. It is the parent company of their hit-famous musical program, Paris by Night, named after the location of their headquarters and founding place. Paris by Night, is a program full of music, of all genres, skits, folks, and among many others. Its Masters of Ceremonies are Nguyen Ngoc Ngan and Nguyen Cao Ky Duyen. Ngan, is one of the world's most respected Vietnamese authors around, writing many best-selling stories, and those stories themselves, are then recreated into audio books by. Ky Duyen, is the daughter of former South Vietnam Air Marshal, Nguyen Cao Ky.
In addition to Paris by Night, Thuy Nga also produces and distributes many other products through its subsidiaries and second-party producers. Thuy Nga is on a never-ending war with copyright infringements, or piracy. Thuy Nga is just one of many Vietnamese music companies. These music companies include Asia Entertainment, Van Son Entertainment, Blue Ocean Music, Rainbow Entertainment, and Tinh Productions, just to name a few.
Contents |
[edit] Products
[edit] Thuy Nga CDs
Thuy Nga CDs is the compact discs division of the company. To date, Thuy Nga has produced and/or distributed over 400 compact discs. Some CDs have bonus features in it, such as a VCD addition. Thuy Nga CDs is classified in a unique number system. Beginning with the first CD, the number system starts with "TNCD001". If the CD is a second-party of third-party produced, the CD is then classfied into, "TNCD(party-code)00(number)". Each solo and/or duet CD is promoted in a very classy-looking poster, to be hung at stores in the Vietnamese communities. There are other CDs as well, such as "Top Hits" CDs, which are similar to the Now That's What I Call Music CDs, and is directly taken out of the Paris by Night videos. Other various-artists CDs include composer-selected CDs, which showcases different songs by a particular composer. Others include, "Tan Co" CDs, and instrumental CDs.
[edit] First-party CDs
First-party CDs operations of Thuy Nga is that the CD is officially produced and distributed by Thuy Nga exclusively. "Original" products can be defined by a holographic production sticker on the front cover. That is to let buyers know that the product they're buying is real and authentic. This is just one way to combat piracy. First-party CDs are classified into the "TNCD00(number)" system. To date, there are over 400 CDs that are produced and distributed by Thuy Nga.
[edit] Second-party CDs
Second-party CDs operations of Thuy Nga is that the CD is only distributed by Thuy Nga exclusively. No other production company is involve except with the producer. Normally, the producing-company is contracted by Thuy Nga, which makes it, a "second-party" company. All advertising and distributing rights belong to Thuy Nga, while the producing rights belong to the second-party producer. Some devoted second-party producers include:
Normally, the second-party productions are owned by the artists and singers that are contracted by Thuy Nga itself. These CDs are classified into the "TNCD(party-code)00(number)" system.
[edit] Third-party CDs
Third-party CDs operations of Thuy Nga is a distribution only service. Any company that is not contracted or affiliated with Thuy Nga is a third-party production. This includes the international distribution rights to products produced at Thuy Nga's native country, Vietnam. Recently, Thuy Nga grabbed international rights to hit-Vietnam artist, Dam Vinh Hung's latest CD, while his own company distributes at Vietnam. These CDs are classified the same way as the second-party's.
[edit] Thuy Nga DVDs
Thuy Nga DVDs is the DVD division of Thuy Nga Productions. These DVDs includes digitally mastered sound and picture quality. Most Thuy Nga DVDs are presented in a wide-screen angle format. All DVDs are mastered in either Dolby Stereo sound, or the Dolby Surround sound. Normally, major companies produce "regional" DVDs, which is either DVD-1 or DVD-2. However, Thuy Nga is an international company with headquarters in USA, Canada, France, and Australia, Thuy Nga chooses to produce the DVD-9 NTSC international format, which causes major piracy problems in Thuy Nga's native country, Vietnam.
[edit] Paris by Night
Paris by Night is the flagship program of Thuy Nga. In Thuy Nga DVD, they didn't pronounce Paris by Night correctly. The program contains all kinds of music genres, skit acts, and Master of Ceremony discussion. Beginning in Paris by Night 67, the company began producing the program on the DVD format. Which is probably a late start, since the format have been introduced recently. Since that time, Thuy Nga has been remastering some of their old Paris by Night programs into the new DVD format. Thuy Nga eventually stopped the production of VHS programs, beginning with Paris by Night 71.
Paris by Night has an MSRP of about $25.00 for 2-discs of the program. The program usually features "Behind the Scenes" footage, which is very popular among fans. Paris by Night is normally about 4 to 5 hours long, all stored onto 2 discs. The DVD case itself is often stored in a beautiful cover jacket, which also helps in marketing the product. The program consists of about 20-25 songs of all genres, one comedy skit, and some added specials such as, "Tan Co", "Cai Luong". The entire program is guided by MC's Nguyen Ngoc Ngan and Nguyen Cao Ky Duyen. In December 2006, Thuy Nga converted Paris By Night 18 from video to DVD, and it wasn't Nguyen Cao Ky Duyen and Nguyen Ngoc Ngan in it. It was taped in 1992.
[edit] Karaoke
Another popular program produced by Thuy Nga, includes the Paris by Night Karaoke. Thuy Nga has produced more than 50 karaoke programs for Paris by Night and second-party productions. The karaoke edition of Paris by Night, normally comes about a year after the original release of the actual program. As in, the songs that are contained in the karaoke are songs and footage, directly taken out of the original program. Only difference is words are plastered on the screen, and guides the singer through, and the MC footage and comedy skits are cut out.
The karaoke programs have a different number system that the Paris by Night's. Right now, (as of 2006) Paris by Night is at number 83 and has finished the live taping shows for Paris By Night 84 and 85. The karaoke program is at about number 50 (as of 2006). Thuy Nga has no plans to reproduce old, very old, Paris by Night programs into karaoke programs. However, Thuy Nga is in the process of reproducing their old karaoke programs, which are issued on Laserdisc format, into the new, DVD format. Paris by Night Karaoke is the most expensive product Thuy Nga offers. With an MSRP of about $30.00, some retail stores sells them for $35.00. Fans wonder why the karaoke is much more expensive than the original Paris by Night DVD, which are 2-discs, whereas the karaoke is one disc. Despite that, the karaoke DVDs are a big hit in the community.
[edit] Special programs
Outside of Paris by Night and karaoke programs, Thuy Nga also produces a number of specials, which includes documentary specials, "Cai Luong", a type of Vietnamese-styled country genre, and "The Best of..." programs for individual artists. There is also a "workout" DVD. Normally, these DVDs are second-party and third-party produced. However, Thuy Nga does commit to producing these programs themselves, and they are very successful at it. Much of Thuy Nga's very old programs back in late 80's have been remastered into the 21st century in the new DVD format.
Some documentary-musical programs include:
- Gia Biet Saigon
- Giot Nuoc Mat Cho Vietnam
both are about the Vietnam War and the Fall of Saigon, and both are best-sellers.
Others include:
- Nuoc Non Ngan Dam Ra Di
- Me Trong Long Nguoi Di
Some second-party and third-party productions have also chose to distribute with Thuy Nga, examples include:
- Phi Nhung Productions (famous for the "Ve Que Em" series, now at number 2)
- Lam Truong
- Khanh Ly Productions
[edit] Comedy programs
Thuy Nga also likes to research on the growing popularity of comedy programs. However, first-party produced comedy programs are only the The Best of Paris by Night Comedy DVD volume sets. These gather all comedy skits of past Paris by Night shows and morphed them into one DVD disc. Some second-party and third-party productions are committed to produce a couple of comedy skits for Thuy Nga, such as Phi Nhung Productions and Hoai Linh.
[edit] Movies and films
Since the beginning of the Paris by Night program, Thuy Nga have been gathering international rights to films produced by the Vietnamese company, Lido Films, which is based back in Vietnam. They gathered a handsome amount of Lido's films. Since the deal ended, Thuy Nga never got back to the film business until they decided to remaster all Lido's films into the DVD format. Now, current distribution deals are with director Victor Vu's films, which was first announced as an Asia Entertainment affiliate, one of Thuy Nga's competitors, until Thuy Nga snatched the deal. A notable Vietnamese-director, Victor Vu has already directed and produced two films for Thuy Nga, both are really popular in both the international and Vietnamese communities. Vu's films are notable winners at local film fairs. Thuy Nga has not yet produced a first-party film yet, and rumors are going around that Thuy Nga might one day enter the business themselves, however, nothing has been announced.
[edit] Van Nghe Magazines
Beginning in Paris by Night 52, Thuy Nga announced, Van Nghe Magazine. Just like its name, Van Nghe, which means, "entertainment arts", showcases articles on the entertainment show business. One magazine is released for every Paris by Night video released. For example, if five Paris by Night videos is released in a year, then five Van Nghe magazines are released in a year. Many speculators think that Thuy Nga only created the magazine to advertise the upcoming, or recently released, Paris by Night video. Its Editor in Chief is Thuy Nga's Chairman, Lai Van To.
Van Nghe Magazine, contains a lot of respected writers and reviewers around the Vietnamese communities worldwide, including show host, Nguyen Ngoc Ngan, and his brother, Ngoc Trong, who is a famous Vietnamese composer. Most recently, Van Nghe Magazine has been down in the docks lately, with releases, way after the Paris by Night video it's supposed to represent. Normally about a month after the Paris by Night release, Van Nghe comes out. Now, it is about 3 months after the release. One term, Van Nghe is on hiatus for so long, that they fused both Paris by Night reviews into one same-length magazine.
Fans can also subscribe the magazine for $60.00USD for 12 issues, which is about 3 years, for an estimate of 4 issues released per year.
[edit] Audio books
In the rise of books on tape, also known as Audio Books, Thuy Nga introduced Thuy Nga Audio Books. A few of Thuy Nga's main competitors, such as Kim Loi, have already introduced Audio Books to the Vietnamese communities already, and was a major hit. Thuy Nga decided to recreate Nguyen Ngoc Ngan's stories into audio books. It was introduced on cassette tapes, which is no longer produced. The first audio book is a non-Nguyen Ngoc Ngan story, but more mainly a collection of short stories written by other Vietnamese authors. It was not until the second audio book was when Nguyen Ngoc Ngan was contracted to read, and contribute to the audio book program.
Mainly, the author (Nguyen Ngoc Ngan) would include a second reader to read with him. Mainly his co-host on the Paris by Night program, Nguyen Cao Ky Duyen, singer Ai Van, and comedian Hong Dao. Now, present audio books now only include Nguyen Ngoc Ngan and Hong Dao, as they are the most favorite.
From audio book number 2 to 25, all stories are mainly society short stories, and was a big hit in the communities. Beginning in audio book number 26, Thuy Nga introduced the first ever, full-length audio book, with a whopping 6 cassettes on one set of sudio books. Beginning in audio book number 60, Thuy Nga began to produce the audio books on both CD and cassettes. In audio book number 68, Thuy Nga seized production on cassettes, and converted to CD-only. As of now, Thuy Nga is in the process of converting all their old cassettes audio book programs to the new CD remastered discs. Popularity of the audio books has grown wary ever since Thuy Nga ran out of stories to produce. Now, Nguyen Ngoc Ngan mainly contributes to his best-selling series, Viet Kieu, now (as of 2006) at number six.
