Launched barely two weeks ago, the website considers itself the equivalent of an "electronic Raon on the web," in reference to Raon St. where sheet music vendors used to be found. The difference between the old Raon St. vendors and mrmusiko.com is that the latter contains more than 2,000 pieces of sheet music and is accessible to more than 400 million Internet users worldwide.
Thus, according to Flores, anybody with an Internet connection anywhere in the world can now browse, view, buy, download, and print Philippine sheet music, songbooks, and collection books. "Our store is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week," says Flores.
Unlike other websites, Flores maintains that mrmusiko.com respects the intellectual property rights of composers and copyright holders so it secures licenses and pays generous royalties to copyright owners.
So important is intellectual property protection to the company that it has invested in an encryption technology that prevents unauthorized copying and forwarding of musical scores, according to Flores. He says mrmusiko.com is the first website in Asia to use this technology.
But to Flores and other mrmusiko.com staff, the work isn’t just about making money or proving that e-commerce is viable, it’s also about preserving Philippine culture. According to Flores, by digitizing Philippine musical scores, they are preserving these priceless works for posterity.
He points out that some of the late National Artist Lucio San Pedro’s masterpieces, written in pen, were damaged in a flood, but once they are digitized, they are virtually indestructible and available for future generations.
Flores says they are particularly proud to be the first publisher of unpublished works by Filipino masters. For example, the late Lucio San Pedro entrusted his heretofore unpublished marches to mrmusiko.com to publish via the web. "These marches are beautiful," he says, "and they’re now for the world to see and perform via the web."
Other proud acquisitions of mrmusiko.com are the piano arrangements of internationally-renowned pianist Raul Sunico. These arrangements have never been published before, but Sunico, who’s now Dean of the University of Santo Tomas School of Music, has allowed mrmusiko.com to publish them. These arrangements are now available for purchase and download through mrmusiko.com.
But the catalog of mrmusiko.com isn’t confined to folk or contemporary art music. The website also lists pop, religious, Christian, kundiman, ethnic, folk and contemporary art music.
According to Flores, the website is also strong in religious and Christian music. It was able to acquire the sheet music of the Jesuits, the SVD, the Papuri Ministry, the Asian Liturgical Institute of Music, and others.
Flores admits that they are targeting the more than six million Filipinos living overseas. These Filipinos do not anymore have to make bilin or request to their relatives here to send them sheet music to sing in choirs on occasions like Independence Day. They just need a credit card to buy Philippine sheet music online. But Flores thinks that Philippine music will also appeal to non-Filipinos. "Music is a universal language and we Filipinos make beautiful music," he says.