OPM: Thriving, breathing

Jim Paredes

Despite that the Original Pilipino Music (OPM) industry has been ailing for a long time now due to piracy problems, local artists remain optimistic.

Ask award-winning rapper Gloc-9, legendary APO Hiking Society member Jim Paredes, and Ivory Music label manager Jinno Mina and they speak of high hopes for the industry. The three joined a talk on what should be done in order to improve the current state of OPM, organized by McJim Classic Leather at the Far Eastern University auditorium on Feb. 24.

Jim Paredes

A staunch advocate of local music, Jim believes OPM is far from dead.

“Sobrang daming nagre-record. Hindi ito mamamatay,” said Jim.

He thinks the country has a lot of talents that could make it big worldwide, if only we could do away with colonial mentality and create our own identity.

“Marami sa mga artists ngayon, they want to record in English kasi gusto nila sumikat sila sa mundo. They think it’s the ticket to be famous in the world but it’s not. The ticket is to come as you are kasi if you want to be global, tell a story as how it should be told,” he said, noting how Freddie Aguilar’s “Anak,” sung in Filipino, gained worldwide success.

He encourages producers and record labels to be “less conservative” and more confident in signing potential musicians who can contribute to the industry.

On radio owners, he urges them to bring back the “open house” format where all types of music, regardless of popularity, were given enough airtime.

“Noon, ang radio walang formatting, walang R&B or rap stations, lahat pine-play kahit ano, and I think that is the best format possible,” Jim said.

He is happy there are now a growing number of music festivals like Himig Handog and the Philippine Popular Music Festival (Philpop) that helps excite the market.

Gloc-9

Like Jim, the mile-per-minute rapper seemingly appreciates the old days when labels actually had an Artist and Repertoire (A&R) department.

“Dati kapag makakita sila (record label) ng isang talent iho-hone nila ito. Kung hindi pormado, dadamitan nila; kung hindi marunong magsalita, pag-aaralin nilang magsalita and tuturuan talaga and ibi-buiild up talaga. Ngayon ’di na ata pwedeng mangyari ’yun pero ’yun sana ang gusto kong (maibalik),” said he.

Ultimately, Gloc wants the government to step in and help the industry recover.

“Ang pinaka-maitutulong ng gobyerno sa music industry ay ang maitaas ang kalidad ng buhay ng tao,” he said. “Kung ang binebentahan ko ng album ay walang pambili ng pagkain, uunahin niya bumili ng noodles bago music ko. Kung mataas ang kalidad buhay ng Pilipino wala siguro tayong problema sa OPM.”

On the kind of music he wants to hear, the brainchild of “Sirena,” “Lando” and “Upuan” prefers songs that speak of what’s going on in society.

Jinno Mina

Working with a record label for a decade now, Jinno attests to the challenge of trying to constantly strike a balance between artistry and commerce.

“At the end of the day, music is business; kung lahat ng nilabas namin hindi bumenta, yari kami sa (mga) boss namin,” he said.

As a label manager, it’s hard for Jinno to reject submission from artists, especially when the music is good.

For him, the problem of OPM boils down to economics.

“Kapag may nagtatanong sakin ano problema ng OPM, ang una kong sinasabi, ‘Kailan kayo huling bumili ng CD?’ ‘Kailan kayo huling nag-download?’ Kung in the past six months wala kang sinuportahan na Filipino artists, ’yun na exactly ’yung sagot. It’s the people – tayu-tayo mismo (ang) hindi nagsusuportahan,” said he.

Despite these struggles, Jinno, along with Jim and Gloc-9, maintain they will not stop promoting OPM any way they can.

OPM: Thriving, breathing

Source: Mb.com.ph (February 26, 2015 at 05:03PM)

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