Music lovers, guilt-free downloads are at Amplify.ph

What do Olongapo rockers 21st Fever, grindcore stalwarts Bloodshedd, and ex-Yano frontman’s new project Dong Abay and The Tanods have in common? 

 

They’re all offering free downloads of their music on Amplify.ph. Which is a better way of saying they’ve put up their music on the site and still manage to get dividends through the stream or the downloads. 

 

So, if you’re thinking about it, this is NOT 21st century music piracy. Not at all. But we’ll get to that later. 

 

“People look at music today as free,” exclaims Dan Feliciano, the business head of Amplify.ph. “We’re trying to find a happy way to compromise with that. I feel myself that people are less and less willing to pay for music today.” 

 

Tall, soft-spoken, and well-traveled, Dan acquired his MBA in London and eventually worked for a dotcom, but he’s since quit the international digital rat race to pursue his passion with his two high school friends from the Ateneo: music appreciation and promoting Pinoy artists to the world. 

 

“Dan told me about the concept more than a year ago,” adds Tim Cardenas, Amplify’s operations director, confessing that they’ve been working intensely on their site for the past 11 months. “And then na-strengthen 'yung idea when Dylan came on board.” 

 

Dylan Pizarro, the site’s music and artist relations officer, is the point man for acquisition of new music.  

“Dan called me one April night and told me na may idea daw siya,” he shrugs and grins. Dylan is an audio engineer, plays guitars for a number of bands, and, with his sharp eyes and long hair, looks like everyone’s image of a rock star. He adds: “I believe in Amplify so much. It’s built on the premise of being able to help Filipino music and specifically Pinoy independent musicians.”

 

More than a year ago these three friends in their late twenties decided to put their skills and degrees to good use, in the service of changing the landscape of how they could marry giving away free Pinoy music and giving back to musicians, rampant torrenting and local piracy notwithstanding.  

 

“Alexa Ratings has Kick-Ass Torrents at number four here,” explains Tim. “But we wanted to offer a model where our users can get the music for free and still give back some money to the artists. We do that through advertising.”

 

Fast forward to now. They’d amassed a big enough OPM library, built the digital scaffolding for their online house, and released Amplify out into the world. The blueprint for their business model was simple. But they provided the will and the wherewithal for something genuinely new on the local scene vis-à-vis pioneering local sites like Radio Republic, Pinoytuner, and Splintr.

 

How? Listen to this: “Giving back to our Partner Artists is very important to us. Amplify.ph uses a simple, yet effective way to give our users what they want easily and give our Partner Artists their due. 

 

“1. When you download a song, a video advertisement from one of our partners is shown. 2. When the video advertisement is completed, the download of the song you want begins. 3. Part of the proceeds from the video advertisement goes directly to our Partner Artist.

 

“With this model of compensating our Partner Artists, we want to help the creation of great music sustain itself. We believe that the Filipino musician is one of the best in the world and some of the best songs come from the minds of these artists. If, at the end of the day, we can help the artist or band raise enough money to contribute to their band fund, or record their next single, then we believe we've done our job.”

 

Tim elucidates: “That ad then compensates the artists as well from a cut in the ad revenue.” 

 

Dan offers a caveat to the size of the revenue for artists generated from this model: “We believe in the work but we need [our artists] to understand that we can’t make them rich. At the end of the day if we can give them enough to pay for their gas fund, their food fund, and pay for their rehearsal studio time, then at least they didn’t shell out any money. Hopefully, their next single is accomplished through us.”

 

The downloading experience

 

Sounds great on paper and there’s more details on their FAQ, but I wanted to see if the tech could indeed service the music in the context of average local internet speeds. So I signed up. As a member, I then downloaded a few songs. 

 

First off, the membership sign-up is utterly painless (you can link your Facebook profile to it) and can be accomplished in five or 10 minutes depending on how detailed you want your profile to be. Once you’re signed up the sprawling music library with hundreds of songs is now at your disposal. 

 

That’s nothing, though. Where Amplify really shines is in the swift downloads. I downloaded mp3 tracks from avant metallists Cog, adult contemporary balladeer Kuya Kurt, and hip-hop MC Six the Northstar. None of them took over two minutes and the fastest one clocked in at 50 seconds. 

 

Barely a minute for a decent audio track at my DSL speed? That’s a small miracle right there. Before you can download though an ad window pops up (usually with a video you have to sit through) which has this text underneath: “By watching this ad, you are helping Kuya Kurt fund his music and hard work!” 

 

The site isn’t cosmetically perfect and could use a better, more solid, color palette, but it’s perfectly functional and loads quickly. Probably the only major complaint I have is the drop-down player on the top right that automatically loads when you log on. Like pop up ads or any impediment to my browsing experience, it can get irritating. 

 

The team does have a hankering for more diverse music out of the regions. Not just stuff from the Metro Manila scene. 

 

Tim nods, “One of the biggest things we want to do is expand our physical reach. Location pa lang, masyado na kaming Manila-centric. We want to get into Cebu, we want to get into Quezon province, into Davao. The way to do that is we’re trying to get representatives and liaisons from each area who know the scene and who can link us up with the artists. And we don’t prefer any one kind. From folk and underground electronica to bloody dubstep!”

 

Baguio’s Ibarra and The Lowtechs are just two of the great acts on Amplify’s library that are based out of Manila. Check out the library and you’ll find interesting acts, like Grey Area from Olongapo, and one or two hardcore bands from, Laguna—surprises which I’ll leave to you to find out. 

 

“We want to be able to shake hands with every artist on Amplify,” says Dylan. “We need them to believe that we are in this with them. We do really want to reach those kids who just love music and love listening to new stuff. We want to get to them.” 

 

“Lahat ng lalawigan ng Pilipinas gusto naming kuhanan ng music,” declares Dan.  

 

“The most amazing thing is,” and here Tim shakes his head in glad surprise, “that when we go out and talk to people is that either he’s in a band or he’s got a close friend who’s in a band. I mean even just the guy who did our business cards, may banda siya and he produces this annual April event and it’s amazing because we had no idea. Kahit saan kami pumunta, ang galing!”

 

Amplify lets your love for Pinoy music be loud and guilt-free. But free, on these terms, doesn’t mean you can’t give back. —KG, GMA News

 

E-mail hello@amplify.ph to inquire about getting involved or how to get your band’s music on the site.