ORIGINAL Pilipino Music (OPM) is on the rise: As of January 1, 2019, close to 10 billion streams of OPM content have been consumed globally.
And they are not slowing down… The music genre not only celebrates local Filipino culture and music, but it plays a significant role in today’s mainstream music here in the Philippines.
Spotify’s OPM Hub
SINCE its launch in 2015, the OPM hub has broken down barriers while simultaneously building bridges of cultural understanding by passing the microphone to the most important voices in the Filipino music industry.
“It is our aim to be a platform of discovery for both artists and music lovers,” says Spotify Southeast Asia Shows & Editorial Team Lead Eve Tan. “Apart from that, we also aim to uncover every layer of this rhythmic musical culture which is an important component of today’s mainstream, modern music. We are extremely excited to see this genre continue to grow and achieve milestones that many thought was not possible.”
The OPM hub, which includes everything from the latest OPM pop hits to favorite OPM hip hop, drove the number of streams and sharing of OPM music, leading to breakthrough 2016 hits including “Hiling” by Mark Carpio,“Dahil Sa’Yo” by Iñigo Pascual,and “Again” by Leanne & Naara.
The hub also includes multiple tiers of content featuring playlists for every moment of your day.
Some of the flagship playlists found within the OPM hub include “Tatak Pinoy,” “OPM Favorites,” “OPM Rising” and “Pinoy Covers.”
Streaming habits
TODAY, with the OPM hub now an established part of the Spotify experience, Spotify users are able to stream seamlessly, allowing for local content to be celebrated.
Since 2015 more OPM content has hit the number one spot of the country’s top 50 charts on Spotify. IV of Spades, Ben&Ben, Juan Karlos and Moira de la Torre are some of the artists that have been and are dominating the local charts.
Based on Spotify’s internal streaming data, Filipinos love original sound tracks (OSTs). For example, after the film Kita Kita came out, many fans came on to Spotify to stream KZ Tandingan’s “Two Less Lonely People in the World.” The track peaked at number 2 of the Philippines Top 50 chart. The same was seen for Darren Espanto’s “Dying Inside To Hold You,” which is an OST for the movie All Of You. Share your favorite OPM track using #TatakPinoy.
Celebrating OPM love songs
AS Spotify celebrates another year in the Philippines, the music streaming platform also celebrates OPM with the launch of the Spotify Jams: OPM Love Songs.
The campaign is designed specifically for Pinoy music lovers. Celebrating all things OPM, the campaign revolves around today’s top artists covering the biggest OPM love songs of the past. IV of Spades, Ben&Ben, Juan Karlos, Moira de la Torre, Sarah Geronimo and Silent Sanctuary were given the opportunity to cover their favorite OPM love songs based on their interpretation of the song. The outcome: a masterpiece.
This effort is truly a canvas for these artists to showcase their celebration of love to OPM and for their fans. Fans are encouraged to take this journey with the artists and understand their inspiration. All recordings will be made available on Spotify OPM’s flagship playlist Tatak Pinoy.
The release schedule of the covers are as follows: February 8-Moira Dela Torre and Juan Karlos; February 14-Sarah Geronimo and Silent Sanctuary; February 22-Ben&Ben and IV of Spades.
Says Spotify Southeast Asia Head of Artist and Label Marketing Chee Meng, Tan: “At Spotify, we realize that helping you discover new music wasn’t enough; we wanted to have a hand in celebrating OPM content of the past and the present. For the launch of this campaign, we wanted to work with some of the top OPM artists of today and get them to cover their favorite OPM love song of the past. We understand the importance of OPM here in the Philippines. And we want to celebrate this beautiful genre with our fans.”