How do you keep music playing in brand campaigns?

When it comes to branding, just how important is music? How much should musicians be charging companies for using their work? And on the part of advertising agencies, how does music make a campaign more effective?

Expect these music industry-related questions—and more—to be answered  on Oct. 4 and 5, during Sonik Philippines.

Organized by music solutions agency Homonym in partnership with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, the event aims to find solutions to some of the major issues surrounding the Philippines’ music industry.

Low fees, for example, remain musicians’ biggest problem, says Homonym CEO Mike Constantino.

The proliferation of musicians all around the country could be one reason why artists still receive relatively low talent fees, Constantino says.

In productions for example, such as films, there isn’t much premium placed on a music supervision unit, which Constantino says is necessary so that the production finds the specific kind of music that best fits its needs, while ensuring that artists receive the right talent fee.

Here in the Philippines, he says what usually happens is that a member of the production crew who has connections in the music scene is informally tasked to find artists, who would be offered “exposure” and, typically, just P5,000 for the use of their song.

“We need to find that equitable middle ground. We’re far from arriving at an industry standard, but hopefully, these talks in Sonik can help,” he says.

Other conference topics include: festivals and experience marketing, the role of major and independent labels for today’s musician and the trials and tribulations of artist management.

One industry concern that the conference will highlight is how institutions from both private and public sectors can provide more support.

The keynote speaker, Charlie Wall-Andrews from the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (Socan) Foundation, will discuss this at length in her speech on the future of Philippine music.

“Socan works closely with [Canada’s] ministry of culture, which has an export commission. All it does is export art. The government gives them an annual budget. They promote their artists [abroad], because if people become fans of their artists, there’s a chance that they will go to Canada and discover more,” says Constantino, who expresses hope that the same could be done for Philippine music. —ANNELLE TAYAO-JUEGO