Jace Payackapan is a young Thai songwriter, performer, and vocalist. However, she chose to put her musical career on the back burner to support and defend musicians' and songwriters' rights. She is the co-founder of Songtaew Sync, which is Southeast Asia's first sync agency, and of Itim Music publishing, Thailand's first independent music publishing company. She also teaches production and is a studio engineer.
With many hats, the 27-year-old graduate of Berklee College of Music, in the United States, is a music veteran. She started piano lessons when she was just five and vocal lessons at six. However, it was not until she was 16 that she decided to pursue a music career. She performed in bars and pubs "just for the experience." Although she initially wanted to combine musical education and economics, once accepted into Berklee, "I never looked back," she said.
Her interest in studying at Berklee was sparked by a former alumnus from her high school and a Berklee student, who encouraged her to apply to the Berklee Summer program at the age of 17. "I fell in love with the school." Although she initially intended to graduate in performance and songwriting, the college introduced her to other possibilities, and she ultimately majored in Contemporary Writing and Production, which included cover arrangements, big band writing for orchestra, and vocal arrangements.
"I really liked the network that [Berklee] created and the opportunities," she said, adding, "three weeks into college, I was in the studio recording my original songs." She was thrilled to co-write, perform, and record with so many other musicians. "It is the main reason why I love music, because it is such a social event."
Stepping into the Thai music industry
She started working as a music teacher at the Yamaha Music School in Boston for a year before coming back to Thailand. The COVID-19 crisis hit, and she joined a friend providing a virtual choir service that synced individual videos into a production, so choir members had the feeling they were singing together.
She later became the manager of a Thai artist, SILVY, signed with Warner Asia. Her tasks included negotiating prices, coordinating performances, managing brand partnerships, and organizing the album launch party. That was her first step in the Thai music industry. While filling in for the artist at a songwriting workshop, she met Andy Haggerstone, the workshop organizer, who became her business partner when they launched Songtaew Sync in 2022.
Southeast Asia first sync agency
Songtaew Sync, Jace explained, is "the middle person to help connect all and make sure that the rightsholders are being accounted for." Andy realized that there was a gap in the market for people wanting to use Thai music. For example, if some Western clients are interested in Thai songs on old vinyls, Songtaew can account for those, she explained. The rise of K-pop and general interest in the Asian music diaspora also contributed to Thai music requests.
Songtaew's latest project is White Lotus (season 3) on HBO. The show highlighted many old Thai tracks, and Songtaew helped clear licenses for nine of those tracks in the series, she said. "It's very heartwarming to know that we are helping bring in income that these rightsholders never thought they would see."
She also noted a rise in fusion music, which is sampling old tracks from the 60s and 70s and flipping them in a new way, for which the agency can help trace and find rightsholders.
Thailand's first independent music publishing company
In 2019, Jace co-founded Itim Music Publishing with an alumnus from Berklee, Manica Leranusorn. Itim is a Thai word for ice cream, she said, mentioning the company's logo featuring an ice cream cone. Itim Music Publishing was created to support songwriters in registering their songs and giving them a choice about how they want their work to be protected and administered. With 20 writers, Jace describes the company as a boutique publishing company.
The company has a non-exclusive deal with artists who retain their copyright. "They can tell us what songs they want us to represent," she said.
The company registers the artists with Music Copyright Thailand (MCT) and ensures they have an International Standard Musical Work Code (ISWC). They further help coordinate between artists and MCT. They also support artists' development. "We are hoping to provide writing opportunities for writers by sponsoring writing camps and potentially pitching their songs with Itim and Songtaew."
Itim Music Publishing collaborates with publishers in Malaysia and Indonesia and plans to extend its collaborations all over Southeast Asia. "We want to create a network where we can send writers to different countries and collaborate and make the next greatest Southeast Asian hit or Asian hit, international hit."
Raising music artists’ awareness on copyright in Thailand
Through Itim Music Publishing, Jace and Manica aim to provide artists with copyright awareness, alternative paths to retain their master rights, and assistance in administering their copyrights.
The company is planning to coordinate with universities and colleges around Thailand to provide information on how artists can best protect their creations when they enter the music industry, particularly regarding contracts and royalties. "I've seen it too many times where they miss the fine print and then get into a five-year contract, which means all the songs that they write don't belong to them, and that sucks!" she said, encouraging artists to seek help with contract reading.
New era, new challenges for music artists
"For young artists, the main challenge is having to wear so many hats," Jace said. Nowadays, "they have to be marketers, influencers, they have to be an online icon to have a spotlight as people's attention spans are getting shorter and shorter while there is more content volume than ever, particularly on TikTok."
"Making music is a fourth of the battle, as artists have to focus on getting their music out there and finding true fans."
Thai people are regular concert goers, and live music is still going to thrive, she said, in particular with the Thai government's soft power initiative that includes attracting robust music festivals and promoting artists to perform at festivals outside the country, she added.
Copyright education and development of Jace’s musical career
While Jace put her musical career on the back burner, she is still an active songwriter and performer. She co-writes and does translations from Thai to English, her second mother tongue, and from English to Thai, a sought-after talent. Her latest translation work was for a movie called The Fountain of Youth, an Apple TV+ production where she provided and sang the Thai version of "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)," an original song by Cher. She also writes songs and hopes to advertise and monetize her work eventually, "but right now I want to elevate and help those around me first and get the system settled," she said.
"I want to give education on copyright, how to protect yourself, and the different ways you can make an income as an artist."
Jace was a speaker in the 5th session of the WIPO Live Chat on August 15, 2025, in collaboration with the Department of Intellectual Property (DIP) of Thailand, focusing on copyright in the music sector.
