‘Occupy Pilipino Music,’ the new meaning of OPM

Editor's note: When musician, promoter, DJ and Yahoo! Philippines digital solutions manager Mike Constantino posted his thoughts on Facebook about the issue on the so-called death of OPM , it was shared 118 times and liked by 170 people in less than three days after he put it up on Sept. 18. It also became the manifesto for a new Facebook group called Occupy Pilipino Music (OPM) that Mike hopes will serve to "encourage each other and share ideas on how to help the scene out in our own little way."  Below is an edited version of Mike's essay.

Mike ConstantinoHaving been fortunate enough to be directly involved in almost every aspect of the local music scene for the majority of my adult life, I too am incensed by all of this OPM is Dead business.
I know by experience that artists make their living in the LIVE arena.  Album and merchandise sales (and now, digital music sales) are all good for the industry, but for artists, playing live results in the most lucrative pay-off.
Before the advent of digital