April 29, 2008
OPM MUSIC…. WHAT’S IT REALLY WORTH?
I have always wondered why OPM CD’s (filipino music) are priced cheaper than the foreign artists’ CDs. OPM is usually priced around PHP250, while their foreign counterpart is priced at around PHP 450.
I’ve spoken to several people in the music industry from the management of major labels to the artist’s managers to artists themselves and they all seem to subscribe to the notion that filipinos will not pay the same amount for a local artist as compared to a foreign artist. Another explanation given is that pinoy artists cannot charge as much as foreign artists because we are local artists and not imported.
I think that this reasoning has been embedded in the Filipino psyche from years of being under the rule of the Americans from as early as 1898, and we never really gained independence until 1945. I remember as a kid growing up in the late 1970’s to 1980’s, we would always assume that products from the states were better than Filipino products and this was a sentiment shared by ALL filipinos. This idea was instilled by our parents who were born in the 1940’s, whose parents, our grandparents, in turn have instilled in them. So, it will take a few more generations before we begin to be proud of our own products. Slowly but surely, the filipino mindset is changing. I sense it in my daily conversations with people, but we still have a long way to go. Well, at least we are getting there.
So, let me address the explanations given by my friends in the music industry. First of all, music is a matter of personal preference, not price, so it boils down to this basic idea,
If you go to a music store and listen to two albums, Album #1 is a so-so album and is priced at PHP250, and Album #2 is an awesome kick-ass album from your favorite band and it was priced at PHP450. Which would you buy?
Another analogy that is a perfect parallel is something that a friend of mine told me a few years ago.
Would you pay for an item on sale for $10 that you DON’T need at all, or would you pay $20 for an item that you REALLY REALLY NEED? What would you do? when i asked that question to people, most, if not all, answered, “of course i would get the $20 item that i need.”
Let me give you several scenarios and you tell me what you will do…
SCENARIO #1
You go to an Odyssey Record store and see 2 albums being sold. One is an OPM album and the other a foreign artist. You are a fan of the OPM band and you really couldn’t care much about the foreign artist. Both are sold for the exact same price. What would you buy?
SCENARIO #2
You go to an Odyssey Record Store and see 2 albums being sold. One is an OPM album of an artist that you don’t really like, but its priced at PHP250, and the other is a foreign artist that you really like, and it is priced at PHP450. Would you actually say, “oh, i really love that foreign album, but its PHP450, so i’ll just buy the PHP250, even if i really wont enjoy listening to it.” Do you get my point? So, What would you buy?
So, my point is that by even if OPM is cheaper, if the music is not good, no one will buy it. At the end of the day, it comes down to the basic premise that if the music is good, people are willing to pay for it, if it is bad, even if you gave it for PHP100, no one would buy it.
FACT: There are so many OPMs that suck and are priced cheaper than other OPM artists and they still do not sell. While other OPM artists that sell at a higher price still sell more.
FACT: At one point, Foreign artists sold more than OPMs even if OPMs were selling at a cheaper price. If price was really the main point of consideration for purchase, then OPM should’ve sold more from day 1.
It was not until around 2004 to 2006 that OPM artists outsold foreign artists, and it is not because it was cheaper. It was due to the resurgence of amazing OPM artists such as Kitchie Nadal, Rivermaya, Hale, Sugarfree, Christian Bautista, Bamboo, Parokya ni Edgar, to name a few. People bought the music because they liked the music now and not because it was cheaper.
I know that most people’s knee jerk reaction is to disagree with me, but if you study this in a purely logical realm, my argument is sound and has merit. Therefore, record labels should stop undercutting OPM artists, believe in OPM music, and believe that people will pay the same price for any music if it is good, whether foreign or local.




