6 REASONS WHY MANY SONGWRITERS IN THE PHILIPPINES ARE POOR

Songwriters don’t get praised a lot. Oftentimes, the artist or the interpreter gets the credit. Let’s take a test. Can you name at least 10 Filipino songwriters? Gotcha!

I bet most Filipinos never even knew who Levi Celerio is, our National Artist for Music (1997), who wrote over 4,000 songs and recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the only man who could play music with a leaf!

But more painful than not getting enough credit is not getting off financially. Only songwriters who have direct access to record companies, TV shows and production, very popular boxer, err personality pala get rich. Does that mean they are the only GIFTED songwriters God has ever created?

NO! The fact is there is no scarcity of songwriting talent and genius in our country. Someone who used to work for a giant record company (that recently closed shop) even told me that if I were a songwriter in the US, I would have been a multi-millionaire right now, because of the popularity some of my songs gained.

So why is it that many songwriters in the Philippines are poor?

I can cite six reasons why and maybe you can relate to one or all of them:

1. RAMPANT PIRACY AND GROSS DISRESPECT FOR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

Piracy in the Philippines is very rampant and we can unanimously say it affects many businesses including the Music Industry. In fact piracy has gravely pulled down the Music Industry that several Record Companies which had their heydays in the 80s and 90s closed down. Some of the bigger companies merged just to survive. I don’t own the copyright for these good articles (they are written by different bloggers) but you can check them out if you want to know more details about music piracy in the Philippines:

-Music Piracy and the Philippine Government

-Piracy and its Impact on Philippine Music Industry

-Who Killed The OPM Radio Star

Some record companies have evolved with regard to their marketing and selling strategies. Instead of dwelling on losses from piracy of physical albums, they focused more on managing artists and organizing live shows/concerts. Good for them, they can still earn. 

But how about US, songwriters? Our main avenue for earning is slowly getting sucked up dry by piracy. It is not a lack of good songs or quality of production that created the monster that is Music Piracy. As Dave Aguila, a musician/entrepreneur said in our conversation, it is TECHNOLOGY that is making piracy so hard to stop.

It is so easy to download, burn, and share music nowadays. No one seems bothered because almost everyone is GUILTY. But the truth is THIS: for every song that we copy and share, the songwriter loses profit. Profit that could have motivated him/her to create and produce more beautiful songs. 

But don't lose hope! For every problem, a new opportunity arises. I will talk about it at the end of the blog so please read up till the end (hanggang sa P.S. section hehehe).

Issue of Intellectual Property Rights

Many songwriters don’t see their songs as PROPERTIES. They think of their songs as mere products or commodities. Let me tell you this, your song is borne out of your CREATIVITY. It is VALUABLE! Think of it as a house. You can rent it out for a lower price, but if someone wishes to OWN it, the buyer has to pay a BIG amount because you will be selling to the buyer ALL THE POTENTIAL EARNINGS FROM YOUR SONG. This leads to another reason why most songwriters are poor.

2. MANY SONGWRITERS ARE IGNORANT OF THEIR RIGHTS

When I started writing songs, I didn't think of earning money from it. My dream was just to hear my songs on the radio or on TV. I never realized that as creator of the song, I am entitled to certain rights. Rights that have to be respected and paid for should someone use my song. 

I was very fortunate to have met several people from the music industry who introduced me to these concepts. One of them is Rico Soliman of the group Father and Sons, who became famous in the 90s for their hit song Miss na Miss Kita. He in turn introduced me to Ms. Christine Bendebel, a Song Licensing Manager and herself a prolific composer (Kung Maibabalik Ko Lang and Urong Sulong, both by Regine Velasquez). 

They told me to be careful of any publishing contract that I will sign, specially the fine prints (sections of the contract that needs magnifying glass to read!). Be watchful of the word PERPETUAL or the phrase "in perpetuity". Because it means you are assigning your rights to the other party FOREVER— which in effect means you don’t own the song anymore (yikes!).

Many songwriters are not aware of these rights:

Mechanical Rights – the right to record your song in a particular format and medium (digital/physical CD). You should get paid for this, first through an “advance” payment that has to be recouped or made up and deducted from future earnings of the CD or digital file.

Synchronization Rights – composer should get paid if the song is used as background for TV shows, commercials or movies.

Performance Rights – whenever your song gets played either live or recorded in enclosed venues (particularly malls, bars, and concerts), you are entitled to be paid since it was used for commercial purposes and not for personal consumption. FILSCAP is an organization in the Philippines that acts as a collecting body for songwriters. You might consider joining it, just go to their site.

Print Rights – remember those songhits and song magazines wherein the chords and lyrics of a song are printed? A songwriter should be paid for it too!

I will deal with the above including the details in another blog.

3. MANY SONGWRITERS DO NOT GRADUATE FROM THE FIRST STAGE

I have written about the different stages of songwriting in another blog (click here). Some songwriters remain financially hard up or have not even earned anything from their talent because they do not go beyond the first stage of songwriting or the realization stage. This is supposedly your springboard to a more successful and profitable venture as a songwriter, when you realize that you can actually write songs. Most songs that you create while in this stage are all about yourself and your experiences.

The problem with remaining in this stage is you become stagnant in your own universe. Your talent will not grow if all you can write about is and for yourself. That’s it, you don’t care if nobody can relate to what you are saying. What matters is you are happy with what you’ve done.

But that’s a problem if you want to earn from your songwriting talent. You will have to be sensitive to what others can relate to. Because like any other business, the question you should ask yourself as songwriter is this: do I have a market for my song? In order to have a bigger business and earnings, your song should also have a BIGGER AUDIENCE. You should not only be a plain songwriter. You should be a SONG SELLER! (try saying it, "I am a Song Seller!").

4. MANY SONGWRITERS ARE NOT AGGRESSIVE

This is very much related to number 3. Since some songwriters live in their own universe, they don’t go out and meet people who can help them. They don’t look for mentors who can coach them to improve their songwriting skills. So what they do is write songs about themselves and wait for THE break or opportunity, hoping that it would be given to them on a silver platter.

Or if they submit demos and get turned down they easily get demoralized. If they join a songwriting contest and don’t win, they get discouraged. Trust me, these songwriters will not succeed.

Just like in any aspect of life, you should not lose hope. You should learn to hustle. As author-preacher Bo Sanchez said, if eleven doors are closed, you should look for the 12^th door that is open. There is opportunity out there if you open enough doors! 

Sadly, like Juan Tamad, many songwriters in the Philippines opt to just wait for the fruit to fall down their wide open mouths.

5. MANY SONGWRITERS WORK ALONE

I have also written about this topic in this blog. Most songwriters don’t earn money from their gift simply because they like doing things on their own. They write the melody and lyrics. They play the instrument, sing and record it. They then look for record companies or independent album producers to give their demos to. They do it ALONE.

This is okay if you are an ULTRA GIFTED songwriter/ musician/ singer/ arranger/ mixer/ publisher/ and hustler. But I have seen songwriters and heard demo songs fail simply because either the lyrics is bad, or the vocals doesn’t fit the song, or the song is good but there is no one to market it.

STOP WORKING ALONE!

Find superstar teammates whose strengths are your weaknesses. You’ll be amazed by the results.

6. MANY SONGWRITERS ARE FINANCIALLY IGNORANT

Okay this point is a bit encompassing because it includes even seasoned songwriters who already earned a lot from their songs but are still complaining that they don’t have enough or they are still not financially free.

Let’s say you earn a hundred thousand pesos from your song or jingle, or even a million. Now what? What are you going to do about it? In fact that is not the question many Filipinos ask themselves when they have money in their hands. It is this: WHAT AM I GOING TO BUY?

The truth is many Filipinos, songwriters or not, do not know anything about money. We are generally a FINANCIALLY IGNORANT people. I personally only learned about Financial Education just recently after reading books by Robert Kiyosaki, Robert Allen, Napoleon Hill, Larry Gamboa and Bo Sanchez.

I have earned money from songwriting for the past few years but I wasn’t growing my money and letting it work for me, simply because I don’t know how to! But now, I know more. And I am continuously expanding my content and context.

So there, I encourage YOU to read up on the authors I mentioned, while improving your songwriting skills. I also invite you to become a member of the TRULY RICH CLUB, founded by Bo Sanchez. I’m a member, and you can gain tons of great stuff about improving your core gift and how to handle money. Just click on this link.

May you be successful in your musical venture,

Robster Evangelista

P.S.

Get my Ebook THE SECRETS OF RADIO HIT SONGS AND 10 TIPS ON HOW YOU CAN USE THEM WHEN WRITING YOUR OWN SONGS for FREE!!! Just sign up on the upper left corner of this blog or below and you will receive an email with instructions on how you can download my FREE EBOOK.