OPM has nothing against foreign artists

MANILA, Philippines - The Organisasyon ng Pilipinong Mang-aawit (OPM) president Ogie Alcasid would like to make one thing perfectly clear: He and the rest of OPM officers and its members have nothing against the influx of foreign artists who perform in the country. What the music organization tries to continuously work on is protect local artists from whatever possible displacement foreign acts may cause.

“They (foreign artists) are most welcome to come here and be their respective ambassador of goodwill of their country and (we can) tell them how beautiful our country is,” says Ogie when concerns regarding local artists’ welfare was discussed during the OPM general assembly held recently. “We’re just working on a better percentage in terms of equity (fee).”

He admits the collection of equity fee is being enforced on every foreign artist coming in to perform. “But it’s not enough. Let us be clear with this for everyone to know that every artist who comes, the local promoter pays P5,000. It doesn’t matter how big or small the artist is, whether he’s Justin Bieber or an international DJ invited to perform in a lounge act.”

The collected fee then goes to the organization’s funds which are being used to provide benefits to members.

OPM VP for external affairs Noel Cabangon further explains that once international talents descend on local shores, local artists lose their audience. Thus, the equity helps push that disparity. Even abroad, there are also fees being collected once Filipino artists perform on the international stage. “So we also impose that here,” Noel says.

Asked if there’s a plan to increase the amount of equity fee imposed on promoters to pay, Ogie replies, “We’re still doing some dialogues with the parties involved. But I think it has to be more than P5,000 because that (amount) was decided upon noong 1987 pa. Nung panahon na ‘yun okey na yung ganun. There are a lot of changes now, so we need to make it higher.”

The OPM is also contemplating on collecting equity fees from theatrical productions because they somehow take away advertisers. Aside from foreign artists doing concerts here, theatrical productions, circus and magic acts are also flooding the entertainment scene.

“In other words, we’re broadening the equity ‘stakeholdership,’” executive director Elmar Beltran Ingles says. “Before, there are only concerts. Now there are various performances. Even dolphin shows we’re going to look at them because they also eat up sponsorships that affect local artists.”

Thus, it is not only OPM that would benefit from this but also other parties from theater guilds.

Mitch Valdes confirms “these are part of the scenario na pinag-aaralan pa.”

With regards to sky-high ticket prices, Ogie clears, “It’s a wrong notion that the equity being imposed affects ticket prices because again it is only P5,000. There are other factors like the talent fee of the artist, amusement tax, venue rental that all add to the cost of the ticket.”