An invitation to talk about Artist Ko in Singapore

On Oct 6, early morning, I received a message from my mother via mobile phone.  She said ,"Everyday I thank God for giving my children wonderful blessings. But today I ask God one that's specially for you... HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SON! ;)".

Yes she winked with a smile.

I know my mother.  She feels alienated from modern technology more so with digital.  But she sent me a wink and she smiled.  It must've been an effort for her.  I replied ,"Thank you, ma. I love you."

Later that same day, I received a package from the ASEAN-Japan Centre via Overseas Courier Service (OCS).  It was an invitation to participate in the 2nd ASEAN-Japan Forum on the Development of Content Industry : "Creation, Commercialization, and Protection of Digital Contents". I am to speak and represent my country, The Philippines, among neighbors in Asia - Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Myanmar (excerpt of that letter below).

What can I say? My mother's a wonder woman.

The first CARTONATA artist

I  was supposed to play 3 gigs with The Camerawalls one fine weekend in Feb.  The first was on the 11th at the Mellow Mangrove in Iloilo, the 2nd was in San Beda College on the 12th with Pupil, and 3rd was slated in Muntinlupa Bilibid on the 13th.  The 2nd was canceled the last minute and the 3rd never got confirmed.

I could've decided on changing my flight schedule and head back to Cebu.  But there are just things I felt I can't explain and at that time and my intuition hinted otherwise.

Talk about blessings in disguise, that accidental trip happened for a reason.

I spent that weekend in Lilystars Records headquarters in P. Tuazon st., Cubao.  Clem and I talked and he pitched in the idea of releasing Hellogoodbye's "Would It Kill You" album in the Philippines.

To make the long story short, Lilystars launched Hellogoodbye's CD on Apr2 in Route196 including a bonus track called 'Not Ever Coming Home'.  The song is exclusively available for Philippines release at CARTONATA.


Pre-recorded video of Hellogoodbye for the "Would It Kill You?" album launch in Route 196 on April2.

Introducing CARTONATA

So yes sharing music is epidemic.

Since people are now sharing them, why not embrace it.  Then I thought a redesigned music business platform could do just that.

About two years ago, Artist Ko member Lucille (Palot) Umali at one time focused on helping me design a logo. The name's CARTONATA.

The logo and name was registered for trademark
in the Intellectual Property Office on Jan. 13, 2011 at 2:08PM
with application no. 42011710005.

What it does is to allow free music download whenever you buy something that is useful to you.  When that something bears the logo, it means you'll get a code with it.  And yesterday was a blessed day.  I got the approval notice from the Intellectual Property Office for its trademark.  Bless me.  Bless me.  Things are moving forward as planned.

But this is as far as I can say for now.  There's too many things CARTONATA in my hands

Cheers!  Music should be free.

Hellogoodbye + Lilystars Records = Would It Kill You (Philippines release)

The first time I heard about Hellogoodbye was from Tonet of Lilystars Records.  That was about July or August 2010 over YM chat.  She'd let me watch their YouTube video.  It wasn't difficult for them to make me like their music.  Soon, I've developed the habit of starting my iTunes by listening to their upcoming release.

Hellogoodbye is an indie power pop band that originated in Huntington Beach, California.  In September of 2010, they came to the Philippines to promote their latest album "Would It Kill You?" released under their own label Wasted Summer Records.

Press fast forward to Feb 13, 2011 in Tonet's house.  Clem and I had a good talk about the band.  About their wish to get their CD released in the Philippines.  About their wish to get released by an indie label.  About their aversion to signing up with major labels.  And about their wish to get to their Filipino fans through Lilystars Records.

Good talk it was.  I somehow got so engaged and so involved.  Told him I'm working on a new project I call CARTONATA.  Clem is a good soul and mind to talk with and we got things rolled in for a spin.

But this will be another story to write about.

Tapping music in the IT industry

Since the conception of Artist Ko, I already had the intention of tapping into the IT industry for digital music distribution.  In the process of doing, I had developed an idea on how it should happen and vividly it unfolded itself as months passed.

At first it was just a vision... then this opportunity came.

Recently I attended 2 meetups on Tech Talk and there I met Glenda Arreza, the managing director of UP Cebu-DOST TBI Program.  I was 15 minutes early, sat beside her (I didn't know who she was until we started talking), and after awhile, I realized that she's the political support I was looking for.

TBI stands for Technology Business Incubator.  And the program aims to nurture technology-based start-ups by giving them the knowledge and skills to succeed.  I mentioned that I have one.  Divine intervention perhaps?

So the day after, my business partner and I went to her office and discussed more about this project idea. She gave us the application requirements. We exchanged emails. The TBI steering committee requested additional information and asked for clarifications.  Three days later, our business proposal got approved.

Today is our kick-off date.  My partner and I will be attending free seminars to make this business idea work.  We'll also enjoy a one-on-one consultation with experienced entrepreneurs.

My vision is slowly shaping up. This will be an exciting time for the music scene.

Urbandub's credibility

If you don't use it, you'll lose it.

I like this mantra.  It's discretely strong and straight to the point.  Any endeavor needs to embrace this principle to get to where it wants to go.

Urbandub is probably the only Cebuano band I know who got just the right amount of consistency to make this just right and therefore has strongly built their credibility outside Cebu.  I have high respect for them.  They've gone so far since their 'Birth' album.  They've opened numerous international acts.  And on Feb 12, they're doing it again with Deftones.

Word has it that they're going on a US tour next year.  Talk about advanced planning.  A milestone I must say if this happens.

If you don't use it, you'll lose it.

Being original is not about originality anymore

"We're different."

Yeah right.

But are you really?

It's not accurate to claim that you are different and therefore original, especially when you disclose your source.  Keep in mind that everybody wants to be different.  It follows that everybody has the itch to claim that they're original.

The rules of intellectual property says otherwise.  You cannot claim an idea that it's yours.  Period.  An idea always comes from a source... be it from a problem that requires a new approach to creative solutions or simply out of vanity.

You cannot patent, trademark, or copyright an idea.  What you can claim however is the actual product to which your idea is manifested from.

Levi's did not claim that they invented the jeans.  But they can claim about the design quality of the jeans that  they make.  Apple did not claim that they invented laptops.  But they can claim they invented the best design functionality of a laptop in the world.  The Beatles did not claim that they invented British pop music.  But they can claim ownership of their sound recordings.

So next time when you say something about your music, your art, or your product, don't say it's original because it's different.  No.  Because today, no one really cares so much.  It's more about the how without divulging the source than the what.

And chances are every single thing is different from the other already.

Cattski's latest opus : demos in video

Cattski is one of the most prolific songwriters I know. I'm guessing that if given the right mood, she can write a dozen songs a day. If that's the case, I would guess (again) that her next problem would be on how to put them in a compilation demo.

But she did. And she's doing it in style.

Check out her live demos in YouTube. Her format is to record her demo in front of a video camera. There's so many advantages when doing this...

One is that she gets to have the song's credibility of ownership even without filling in the copyright application sheets. Next is that by doing this, she is essentially gigging... reaching out to a wider audience at minimal work. Third is that she can easily pull this off because her artist name represents both herself and her band.

To date, she's self published her 2nd demo release Quickfix. Smart isn't it? Why haven't I thought of that?

Tunecore widgets

Months ago, Tunecore launched its prototype widget for digital music. Too many bugs at that time and was removed from the dashboard.

Today I found it again and tried it out. Very nice. We're moving forward. Really moving forward.

The Current Setting (2008)

Many times I've been asked about how much our local music scene has improved. Depending on which platform the question was perceived from, answers vary.

Last Saturday (Oct. 18) I watched a concert featuring Taken By Cars, Pedicab, Gasulina and our very own Powerspoonz at Paseo. With me were Rescue A Hero, Bai Nuñez (The Ambassadors) and Paul Aguilar (The Line Divides) - the latter two being the most active young leaders in our little music community today.

The question was asked again. Paul brought it up and the conversation became more interesting - I gathered my thoughts attempting to opine over tagays of beer.

This was how it went (imagine a whirlpool effect just as how movies do a flashback scene)...

The year was between 1996 and 2000. My observation was that bands were not cool yet about writing and playing originals. The crowd and event organizers didn't appreciate it so much either.

Local radio stations were unmindful of this "little music culture". Some bands dared but my guess was 1 out of 10. I suppose it wasn't worth the time for them to spend an effort on the creative process.

In 2000, Artist Dais supported the idea of a weekly gig held every Wednesday of every month. Local bands were encouraged to play more originals. It was a niche market and Midweek Sessions was born.

In attempting to achieve this goal, a special program outline was set on the last Wednesday of each month aptly called "Uncovered". It emphasizes that only original songs were allowed in this evening.

It became an exclusive engagement for local bands - an opportunity to prove something and to creatively flaunt their musical ideas.

The rule was very simple :

Bands who can play the most number of originals in a set of 6 songs in the previous weeks will get an Uncovered slot.

Meanwhile, NU107 was the hippest radio station in town believed to be the most supportive of local talents for promoting homegrown bands via regular airplay. At the first Uncovered installment (which turned out to be successful), the station's head advised me to minimize the encouragement of original songs.

The rationale, his rationale being that, and I qoute... "People are not ready yet."

Was there anyway to tell?

We succeed when we dare to fail. So I persisted and I refused to budge.

More bands surfaced and original songs, although painfully slow, started getting public acceptance and attention.

A couple of years later, Warren Tan (Squall) produced 2 albums locally distributed at limited copies adapting the title.

New recording studios were established almost every year.

So I said to Paul... "Yes. I think Cebu's music scene has improved so much."

At this point, we turned our heads to the Paseo crowd, dancing to the bands' original music. This is something that was not there before.


Last year's article

Diss A Band Or Kiss A Band?

A good friend suggested that I should write something that makes people react more. Particularly about bands that I don't like. Bands to diss and piss.

The keyword used was "reaction".

Okay.

Well for one thing, I view reaction as a negative word. When a person is sick and takes a medicine, his/her body reacts to the drug in the form of allergies for example.

The positive counterpart is called response. The body heals hence the pill responded, doing what it's supposed to do.

I must admit that I am very often tempted to write about bands that I wish had never existed. But then again I believe it's wiser instead to talk about bands that I look up to or bands that have high potential.

In as much as I want to diss bands, I don't think I have that privilege. And simply because praises and admiration can do better for them.

Dissing bands can only make enemies and in the end puts "dissers" in a bad light.

So I said to my good friend, "If I didn't write about a band, it means I haven't heard of them yet."

I prefer to kiss. It brings positive feedback and responses that could inspire more bands.

He responded... with a laugh.