MANILA, Philippines?It?s a small world, after all, for Rico Blanco and his former band mates. The record label he signed up with as a solo artist, Warner Music Philippines, happens to have Rivermaya, too, in its roster.
Blanco, currently recording his debut album at Tracks in Pasig, has also posted the following update on his Multiply website, mentioning a band whose vocalist and bassist were originally part of his old band:
?Just having a bit of difficulty these days booking studio time, which means we all wait a little longer for the album. Lots of other artists (such as Bamboo, MYMP) sharing the same studio with us, which is very good for the music scene. Loads of great albums to look forward to this year! I?m getting somewhat impatient though, as I?ve been itching to finish the damn thing and start playing live. So far I?ve laid down basic tracks and roughly mixed the bulk of the album, so we should take just a couple more weeks, barring any more studio schedule glitches. Thank you for your patience.?
In the meantime, fans have been raving about the pre-album release of the single ?Yugto,? Blanco?s densely arranged song about love and deception that rings with arena-type guitar solos and a quirky, Indian lute prelude. The single is exclusively available via digital download. For details, text RICOBLANCO to 234.
Platinum pot
Sony BMG Pilipinas happily reports that several of its local and foreign artists have been selling well, with the following CDs hitting high marks: Avril Lavigne?s ?Best Damn Thing? (platinum); Beyonce?s ?V Day? (double platinum); Leona Lewis? ?Spirit? (gold); Sharon Cuneta?s ?Isn?t It Romantic Vol. 2? (five times platinum); Lea Salonga?s ?Inspired? (platinum); and Callalily?s ?Destination XYZ? (platinum).
Last year, the 39-member Philippine Association of the Record Industry (PARI) unanimously approved a board resolution lowering the certified standards for gold and platinum albums due to declining sales.
Local albums only have to sell 12,500 copies (from 15,000) to achieve gold status, and 25,000 (from 30,000) to go platinum. Foreign albums are now certified gold with sales of 7,500 copies (from 10,000) and platinum with sales of 15,000 copies (from 20,000).
Rare appearance
The 1960s pop singing trio Tiongco Brothers, said to be ?the first Pinoy artists to perform at the Sydney Opera House,? made a rare appearance in a recent show at Elbow Room in Metrowalk, Pasig.
The event was a prelude to the Global Filipino Nation international conference held in Makati.
Passion for music
The third annual survey released at the Music Matters Forum in Hong Kong revealed that young people in India, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines have the highest passion for music; they would listen to it every minute of the day if they could.
Commissioned by MTV Networks Asia and partnered with the market information company TNS, the fieldwork was completed in March this year which encompassed 5,741 online interviews with urban individuals aged between 15-34 year-olds in China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam and Australia.
The study also found that mobile phones are commonly used for listening to music. One in four young Asians paid to download digital music recently, while twice as many added to their music library without paying.
Coldplay rules
A Billboard report posted on the Yahoo website says that Coldplay?s latest album, ?Viva La Vida? (EMI) has sold more downloads than any album in digital history. The old record was held by John Mayer?s ?Continuum? (Sony BMG).
?Viva La Vida? sold 66,000 downloads last week, bringing its two-week total to 354,000. ?Continuum? has sold 353,000 downloads since its release in September 2006. The rest of the all-time top five albums with the most paid digital downloads consists of Amy Winehouse?s ?Back To Black? (329,000), Daughtry?s ?Daughtry? (323,000) and Justin Timberlake?s ?FutureSex/LoveSounds? (301,000).
Top paid downloads
In other download news, ?Low? by Flo Rida featuring T-Pain becomes the first song to top the 4-million mark in paid downloads. The paid digital download medium scarcely existed five years ago and now it?s the biggest growth area in the music business. Album sales in the first half of 2008 totaled 204.6 million. Digital track sales for the same period totaled 542.7 million, up substantially from 417.3 million.
The bad news is, just three albums topped 1 million copies in sales (CDs and digital downloads combined) in the first six months of 2008, the lowest total since Nielsen/SoundScan started in 1991. These albums are Lil? Wayne?s ?Tha Carter III? (1,526,000), Jack Johnson?s ?Sleep Through the Static? (1,248,000) and Mariah Care?'s ?E=MC2? (1,063,000).
Six albums sold 1 million copies in the first six months of 2007. And 16 albums hit the million mark in the first half of 2006. (Business peaked in 2001 when a whopping 37 albums reached the million mark in the year?s first 26 weeks.)
Compiled by Pocholo Concepcion
Email pconcepcion@inquirer.com.ph
