Like Entertainment: Leveraging Gaming Industry to Promote Entertainment and Original Music

Sunny Chio, the key personnel in Like Entertainment & Productions Co. Ltd., a production house with three years of history, has worked in the local entertainment industry as an event and programme host as well as a singer for many years. With the setting up of Like Entertainment, he changed his career from being an independent artist to a businessman. He shared his clear vision: “In the entertainment business, creativity is key. Moreover, it is important to stay young at heart. To build a sustainable entertainment company, the most vital element is talent rather than clientele. You must have a steady and united team for the company to thrive.”

Other partners at Like Entertainment include Elvin Chio and Kenneth Lee, who are deeply passionate about music. In the first year, Like Entertainment set up office at a 100-square foot mezzanine, and Sunny Chio juggled his role at Like Entertainment along with other commitments in order to maintain his company. It was only a year later when both Elvin Chio and Kenneth Lee graduated from university, that Sunny Chio decided to quit his day job to focus on building his own company and pursuing his dream career.

Chio remarked: “Having operated for three years, Like Entertainment has built up its credentials, even though the company is at its initial stage. We differ from our counterparts since, other than artist management, we work on music coordination, from programme production, to specially commissioned events, song recording, MV production and even music marketing.

Like Entertainment, similar to other entertainment companies in Macao, has nurtured many local artists. For example, TDM Best of the Pop Music Awards is an annual music award event since 2003 that celebrates Macao’s homegrown music and is an opportunity for young singers to further their music dream career, and where artists such as Siu Fay and Soler had performed. As the shareholders of Like Entertainment, Elvin Chio and Kenny Lee as well as four other artists under Like Entertainment (i.e. Elise Lee, Bill Leong, Cass Lai and Alex Ao Ieong), are all highly experienced singers who took part in various singing competitions.

With the increased popularity of original music, Macao’s entertainment companies and singers now have more opportunities to prove themselves, a phenomenon that Sunny Chio found welcoming. “It is excellent to see everyone having a bigger share of the success. This proves that the industry has its potential.” Albeit the market still has room for more new enterprises, Chio conceded that he would sometimes take on projects with lower profit margin in order to gain the trust of new clients and to be more accepted by the market.

In response to the fact that more of Macao’s artists are now seeking opportunities to gain publicity in Hong Kong, Chio opined: “Even if a singer were to take home all the awards in Macao’s music industry, it would only make so much impact. For a singer, overseas recognition matters a lot.” To a certain extent, publicity in Macao’s sector is seen by some as a stepping stone. Nevertheless, for Like Entertainment, the stepping stone phenomenon remains valuable and brings mutual benefits.”

Besides, Chio pointed out the impact of the gaming industry’s development on the overall entertainment business. “The rapid development of the gaming industry has brought an impressive footfall to Macao, leading to greater demand for entertainment and a prospective market for the rise of more entertainment companies. A company like ours, for example, can rely on this market trend to promote original music. This is a beginning for us as well as our social mission.”