The Musikero100, and why the power is yours
The Musikero100 is a company. It’s not a club. But it is non-profit. Nobody gets paid. I know. It’s crazy.
There is, however, a payoff. A payoff that appeals only to a particular kind of person. It’s interesting to note how, as a common example, gold can mean so much to a businessman, but not to a man lost at sea who would kill for a bottle of potable water.
Musikero100 is an attempt. It's not foolproof. Not yet. It's not mediocre either. But it's a new and exciting and frightening approach to music, and it can fail as much as it can succeed. It depends so much on the willingness of people. Most importantly, It depends on you.
Ya ya ya. I know. Some of you think it's just another "artist" trying to be heard. Or, "Hey, this guy must be one of those anti-society, anti-pop culture kind of hippies, some small artist against big business.. Cool." - as you slowly navigate away from this page, back to your facebooking and youtubing, to watch a cat flush a toilet (thank you Dana Carvey).
BUT, if you are that person, who believes that cars CAN run on water, if only big businesses didn't spend so much money hiding this car from the world, read on.
IMAGINE THIS: what if YOU could control the albums and artists making these albums? What if YOU could take part in the music-creation process? What if YOU could support even a simple neighborhood musician, just because you think he is better than the singers you see on TV or hear on the radio? What if YOU could decide the next HIT SONG?
Is it possible?
I hope I've gotten you interested. Because, with Musikero100, the answer is Yes.
MUSIKERO100 will sell you albums.
HUH? That's it? You're probably thinking.
Yes. That's it. Musikero100 will sell you albums. But they will sell you the albums BEFORE they are recorded.
A member, through his membership dues, is in effect BUYING an album before it is made. In chat forums, we all decide on who to support next, what kind of albums to produce next. We distribute free mp3s of demo recordings of songs through a private site- rough and unfinished, just to give you an idea on how it will sound like. And the artists/songs that have the most demand (WITHIN M100 only) "wins". That's it. Nothing more. You commit to buy, and you may choose to sell too.
We will produce one album every 3 months. To maximize the amount of artists we can help. We just keep buying albums, which will never be expensive. All you have to do is to keep buying the albums. The moment you stop, you forfeit your membership, no hard feelings on both ends.
Here’s an interesting piece of simple arithmetic: Did you know that all it takes to record an album with a full band is around 300,000 pesos (6,000 US dollars)? For a good quality album, the standard retail price is around 300 pesos. So, in simple math, if 1000 people buy this album, the album has already recovered its cost of production, right?
If MUSIKERO100 had 100 members, and each member had at least 10 members under his responsibility, that's a thousand album sales, immediately, per release.
1000 cds. That’s NOT a lot. A gold album these days is 10,000 units. Which is not a lot either.
So, the question is, why does the world claim that the recording industry is dying? Piracy? Downloading? File sharing? Not enough people buying?
All true, perhaps. But in my opinion, there is one most poignant reason why: globalization.
GLOBALIZATION- that's a word that most of you hear everyday, but not all have taken the time to understand. I know - it might get boring. Please read on, no matter how slowly:
GLOBALIZATION according to Wikipedia:
Globalization describes an ongoing process by which regional economies, societies, and cultures have become integrated through a globe-spanning network of communication and execution.
Ok, pause. The key words here are ONGOING, and INTEGRATED. Ongoing means it's happening. Right now. Integrated means cultures are beginning to merge with each other. Diversity is slowly decreasing. For example, kids these days from Africa are starting to use Ipods. To listen to Taylor Swift.
Ok, next part of Wikipedia's definition:
The term is sometimes used to refer specifically to economic globalization: the integration of national economies into the international economy through trade, foreign direct investment, capital flows, migration, and the spread of technology.[1]
However, globalization is usually recognized as being driven by a combination of economic, technological, sociocultural, political, and biological factors.[2] The term can also refer to the transnational circulation of ideas, languages, or popular culture through acculturation.
Simply put: people are being influenced by the big businesses to want the same things, to like the same products, to wear the same styles, to eat the same fast food, and yes, to listen to the same artists.
In an ever-changing world, where globalization is homogenizing everything, people have become the same. In the opinion of some sociologists, TOO the same. Some think it's a good thing. That it's convenient. If you are among those people that believe that, then Musikero100 is NOT for you. It's ok :) Like i said, it's not for everybody. You can stop reading now.
Musikero100 is a choice. It is my choice to swim upstream, and to try to take part in the changing of the world. No one can change the world on his own. But people who have crazy ideas about how the world can be better shouldn't always be neglected. Sometimes, the crazy ones are the ones that save us.
You too have a choice. You can either control the market, or it will control you. You will not notice it. Chances are you have been controlled by the market your whole life, but have never realized it. Who's in your ipod these days? What kind of music are they playing? You might think that your choices of music are so unique, but the truth is, you're probably one out of a million downloaders of that so-called "unique" choice of song or artist.
DON'T GET ME WRONG. There is nothing wrong with pop music. It's a big business, driven by many factors, and based largely on public demand. There is nothing wrong with that.
But have you ever met a songwriter, in a small bar or small show somewhere, and realized that "Hey, this guy's songs are GREAT! They speak to me, straight to my soul!" And then you wonder, why isn't this guy's songs on the radio?
It happens all the time. Sometimes, even the popular artists have unrecorded songs, much better than their popular songs. But these songs remain unrecorded and unreleased, because the record labels claim it has no "mass appeal". So the songs remain gasping for air, until they die a natural death, along with the chance of us ever hearing that truth again.
Do you even know why you like this anonymous guy's songs so much? 2 things: 1) He's probably really good, unless you have impaired judgment, 2) More importantly, he wrote this song in a place where you come from too. You grew up in the same society, with common sunsets and rainy days. You must have crossed the same streets and seen the same houses, being built on the same old empty lots you used to both play in. In manila, it's common to grow up a few blocks away from each other, and never know this person until you meet in the office when you're both 25 years old, and realize you had been neighbors all along. The Philippines has small and crowded cities. This has happened to me so many times.
NOW - in terms of impact, how can a song by John Mayer compare to an original song written and performed by my dear friend, Paolo Santos? Sure, in the eyes of the globe, John Mayer is the greater artist (and yes, he is truly fantastic). But if you hear some of Paolo's unheard songs, you will see yellow memories of your childhood as you close your eyes, as you hear his voice effortlessly singing a melody created by his mind that your own neighborhood formed. His inflections seem more familiar than John Mayer's. His diction is classy, but somehow, it betrays a Filipino soul despite the perfection of his English. In short, when Paolo sings his songs, I know it's him. And I feel it's about me, too. And the music is ours.
Then you wake up, and realize that this beautiful song is NOT on the radio. It's not in his albums, because the market wouldn't want it, the labels say. And you find yourself overflowing with a genuine feeling, derived from Paolo's songs, wishing that you could share this feeling with more people like you. But you can't. It's just not for sale.
So if you, as a lover of music, have ever wanted either Me, or any of the Sabado Boys, or the whole Sabado Boys to record an album where we sing to a full orchestra, but the record labels do not consider it possible because it is “only” for the A market, what are we all supposed to do then? Do we just resign to that fate, of never creating realities out of the big dreams, just because the world deems it impossible? I always thought I was part of that world too.
Currently, I am forming a core group, and we are discussing the mechanics on how to create a reality out of this crazy dream. It will be opposed. It will be criticized. Some will make nasty comments about how it is a foolish attempt at reinventing the wheel. Some will maliciously accuse it as a future networking scheme. Some will just not like it. Again, it's ok. I'm not trying to talk to them. I'm trying to talk to you.
Oh, and by the way, I have a song from the Musikero album, called "Musikero". That's the whole soul of this project. I wrote it long ago and I'm just trying to make some lines from it come true. If you've heard it, great. Try to listen to it again. If you haven't, try to look for it. It's probably on the net. Hey, I didn't say globalization was all bad. The internet is great! I just wish we didn't have to love the Jonas Brothers more than Side A.
