WRITTEN BY TRACE GAYNOR, LEO ALBEA AND FRANCESA JANA SANTIAGO

If it hasn’t been made obvious yet through history, Filipinos have an immense love and talent for music! Go to any family gathering and you’ll find either a karaoke machine or a Tito strumming passionately on his guitar— music has and always will be part of our cultural identity. But while most of us have continuously attempted to make a career out of it, the music industry in America still doesn't seem to want to back us up. Are we only worth a viral 4-chair turning audition video and not a debut album? Does this mean Filipinos can’t sell music or are we just not being given the proper opportunity to? The facts are these…

Filipinos have tried every way to break into the music industry: social media, reality competitions, record labels, and even idol-style training! Independent musicians like Melissa Polianar have penned numerous songs for other artists as well as her own, ultimately gaining her recognition from Grammy award winners, and acapella group The Filharmonic have risen to popularity after singing alongside celebrities on The Late Late Show with James Corden! Back in the Philippines, P-POP group SB19 hit #1 in the Billboard chart with their single “Bazinga” while OPM band Ben&Ben are going on their first North American tour this year! All this and still a majority of us lack recognition. We do have Mixed-Filipinos who successfully entered and thrived in Hollywood but they all have one thing in common: their racial ambiguity. While their success and accolades are to be proud of, it’s complex to claim they are samples of “representation” when it’s still unclear to us who they’re even representing.

What’s sure is for American labels to finally accept us, we need to start revolutionizing the music industry ourselves. Time and time again, Filipinos have proved ourselves by contributing as composers for blockbuster movie soundtracks and choreographers for concerts. This continues on to our community producing Broadway stars worthy of a Tony and rising Pinoy boy bands! And when industries trust our work, it should be enough of a reason to give us a platform of our own. With each others’ support and investments, we’ll be able to promote our local talents and open doors to opportunities for them. 

So make sure to stream, share and engage as much as possible with our musicians and their content, and for Filipino artists— trust your community and continue what you do. One day, you will be given the stage you are deserving of.