Y-Speak: Listen closer and closer
MUSIC makes the world a better place, as what I always tell myself. In every emotions and situations that we get into, there is always a perfect rhythm that suits to it. As the world evolves, its sound changes with it, and fresh approaches in music-making just became inevitable.
Globalization sets high standards in content creation not just in the field of music, but in media across all formats. Though Western music has always been consistent in getting heard by people globally, the world bids recognition to new genres today. For instance, there are Korean-pop and Latin-pop music, the most influential music styles of this generation. International artists learn these languages in order to fit in the trend.
The Philippine music industry is wide, but the probability of getting noticed by millions of Filipinos is narrowed down into limited opportunities. As an aspiring artist who wants to have a room in the Philippine music industry, and be able to help in evolving the OPM, I recognize the lack of doors for dreamers like me to be heard by millions of Filipino listeners.
If not being able to get into national TV, there are broadcasting stations and there is social media, but it is not enough to get more artists noticed. Our country needs to develop better and stronger marketing strategies that would get our fellow countrymen love their own music.
The reality of our music scene is capital artists were the only people having the chance to be noticed in the national level. How about artists from Visayas and Mindanao? They travel to Manila in order to grasp their chances to actualize their visions, but only a few succeed in this type of mission that is why this practice needs to be stopped.
We are now in the 21st century, and our ways are changing and evolving. I think that the best way to go global is to get local. For instance, we have Visayan Pop which originate from Cebu. The genre was able to grow and be heard from one island to another, but the only hindrance was the language.
If Cebu was able to get their local crafts into almost half of the country, Davao can make it too. Here in Mindanao, the best way to get our songs into national level is to get hyper local. This means that artists should be encouraged to write songs for the nearest people around them.
Bringing out something personal, and something relatable to people who experience the same culture as the artist do. Instead of writing something for capitalism, why not create something that is different from the approaches we are used to.
The Article 5 of the Broadcast Code of the Philippines supports the claim that, as Filipinos, it is our responsibility to grow our own music scene and make it become as rich as our culture. If we succeed to make our people love our own sound, then many doors would open for fresh artists from all parts of our country whether from Luzon, Visayas, or Mindanao.
Soon enough we could conquer the global standards with our own musical identity and make them hear something they haven’t heard before. (Paul Ramirez, AdDU Mass Communication)