OPM stars look after their own

OGIE Alcasid

Downloading music online has practically killed the CD. However, there was no definitive online media store dedicated to original Filipino music, so singer-songwriter Ogie Alcasid, together with The Dawn’s Jett Pangan and business partners from the Ateneo, put up opm2go (www.opm2go.com) – a local online music store similar to Apple’s iTunes.

“We want to establish the transition from physical media to digital media, because people want to have their music in their iPods and listen to them anywhere,” Alcasid told the Inquirer in a telephone interview. “We need to keep in step with the times.”

Despite a smattering of a few online music stores, as well as local record labels offering the same services, Alcasid feels that opm2go is the first “to really push the concept” in the country, with a catalogue of 12,000 songs from record labels Viva and Vicor, and 80 independent musicians.

For P15 a song (indie acts go for P10), people can download singles ranging from old favorites Apo Hiking Society and Eddie Peregrina to current hitmakers Sarah Geronimo and Rachelle Ann Go.

Payment is done via customers’ mobile phones (Smart PasaBayad prepaid or postpaid), credit cards and opm2go prepaid cards soon to be available at Ministop, 7-Eleven and National Bookstore outlets.

Alcasid said full albums of artists will likewise be available. But for now he is encouraging people to buy singles.

To boost opm2go’s catalogue, Alcasid said he would be negotiating with other record companies in the future. However he pointed out that some of them, including his label, Universal Records, are still quite wary and reluctant about opm2go’s prospects, business-wise.

JETT Pangan. Photo by Richard Reyes

“They want to see how people will respond to it first,” he said. “We understand where they are coming from. They are very protective of their business, and there is no problem with that. But I hope they eventually follow suit.”

He added that he will be having exploratory talks with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts to see if opm2go can have indigenous and folk music available too. “We want it to become a complete repository of Filipino music.”

Alcasid said he doesn’t know what the future holds, but “we will persevere. We will keep wooing other music labels, TV networks, and radio stations to join and help us. My prayer is for opm2go to become the default online store for musicians and consumers.”

He explained that opm2go is not connected with his duties as Organisasyon ng Pilipinong Mang-Aawit (OPM) president: “OPM is a nonstock, nonprofit corporation. We can not engage in business. But it is a part of OPM’s advocacy of helping and promoting Filipino musicians. Another reason that we put up opm2go was to give those who do not have enough funds to produce an entire album an outlet where their music can be heard and sold.”

Asked if he thinks opm2go’s reasonably low retail price may somehow help curb piracy, Alcasid said: “Piracy will always exist. We just have to learn how to live with it and deal with it more efficiently. I am not saying that we should give up the fight or impose stricter rules to curb it. But I think opm2go is a proactive stance against piracy, in a sense that we readily present to our consumers new music that is affordable.”

Opm2go will be formally launched on March 28, 7 p.m. at the Eastwood Central Plaza in Libis, Quezon City.