Spotify Spotlights the Wildly Popular Pinoy Rock Scene in New Video Series
Original Pilipino Music, OPM, Pinoy Rock—call it whatever you want, there’s no denying it’s a music phenomena. The songs come in several styles, from hip-hop to pop to rock, but OPM is largely beloved for ballads that inspire deep-rooted emotion and impassioned, heartfelt singalongs. With nearly 10 billion streams, OPM is one of the world’s most popular genres—which is why Spotify is spreading the joy of this style of music with a new three-part Pinoy Rock video series.
Available on Spotify Philippines’ Facebook page, the series puts the spotlight on the Pinoy Rock scene, bringing together timeless musical acts such as Sponge Cola, Hale, and Callalily, with up-and-coming talents like This Band, December Avenue, and I Belong to the Zoo. In the videos, the artists chat about the OPM rock scene, their struggles as artists, and how they see the OPM scene changing in the next few years.
https://www.facebook.com/SpotifyPH/videos/631778550621686/
The series offers several insights into OPM and why its popularity only continues to grow. Sponge Cola credits the rise of Pinoy Alt Rock to the groundwork laid by bands like Eraserheads, Rivermaya, and Parokya Ni Edgar, which performed in Manila’s iconic Club Dredd during the ’90s. And today, the members of This Band describe Pinoy Alt Rock as “saktong lungkot na may galit,” or “the right balance of sadness and anger,” a sentiment that resonates across international waters. For example, This Band’s first single, “Kahit Ayaw Mo Na,” not only hit #1 on Spotify’s Philippines Top 50 and Viral charts, it even entered Spotify’s Global Viral 50 Charts in December 2018. The song now has more than 56 million streams.
https://www.facebook.com/SpotifyPH/videos/1839655472846448/
Technology is also a major factor in OPM’s proliferation—particularly for independent artists. Members of December Avenue say they don’t have a radio or TV presence, so they use “the tools available at our disposal, like the internet.” December Avenue was Spotify’s second-most-streamed artist in the Philippines in 2018.
https://www.facebook.com/SpotifyPH/videos/2228896200561202/
And much like the video series itself, Spotify allows OPM artists to connect with their fans. “Now you can see who listens to you. I can see where they’re listening, how they’re listening, and where I’m most listened to,” says Argee Guerrero of I Belong to the Zoo.
That deep feeling of connection, after all, is what OPM is about.
Discover the best and freshest music in OPM on Spotify’s Tatak Pinoy playlist.
