MyMusicStore launched, are you buying?

A local music store was launched earlier tonight in an attempt to combat the growing trend of music piracy in the Philippines. MyMusicStore.com.ph is a collection of over 160,000 hit songs and OPMs with prices starting between Php20USD 0.34INR 29EUR 0.32CNY 2 to Php35USD 0.60INR 51EUR 0.57CNY 4 a pop.

This is not the first time that a local music store has operated in the Philippines so it is not clear what MyMusicStore will be doing to escape the same fate as the earlier ones.

For one, it’s possible they are riding on the popularity of Apple’s iTunes Store. A Php35USD 0.60INR 51EUR 0.57CNY 4 price tag seems a bit cheaper compared to the $0.99PHP 58INR 84EUR 0.94CNY 7 iTunes is selling per song. And though the music store in iTunes isn’t really available for the Philippines, folks can still opt to use the iTunes Prepaid Card. Maybe this is the gap that MyMusicStore is filling up.

Available payment channels include Paypal, credit card, Smart load and soon, Load Central ePins.

I’ve tried registering to the website and it seems to be a bit buggy at the moment — the FB login took several attempts to succeed, payment via Smart load was not completed, my Music Cart suddenly went back to zero and I bumped into a “Cannot connect to Database” error.

Not really a great first time experience for a music buyer.

The site is probably getting a ton of visitors right now. In any case, I’m curious whether this service will succeed in attracting buyers when Filipinos are so used to downloading their music for free (torrents and YouTube anyone?).

So the question remains — will you start buying your music now that there’s a legit channel for it?

You can check it out here.

Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

https://www.yugatech.com

33 Comments

Benchmark says:

13 years ago

yes, I might get some music I don’t have…but this mean the file can be shared?

Also, siguro bakit iisipin mo pang i-share if one song is cheap… :)

probably a good idea….sana lang talaga matigil ang pirata…torrent anyone? :P
- Reply
Reanzer says:

13 years ago

I’m looking forward to buy songs from them.

Unfortunately, this site won’t stop piracy. As long as these companies don’t understand how pricing should be done in the Philippines(how we Filipinos can actually look to buying it). 40 a pop is still too much for an average Filipino(compared to getting it “free”).

Downloading services from computer shops range from 5-20 pesos per song, and 1 whole cd at about 40 pesos. A lot of people will still go for “free” downloads via torrents, limewire and pinoy forums and such.

But if they can sell a whole album/movie for Php40, now that’s a different story. It’ll be like how Original Microsoft Software is priced between $1-$3(in China) which makes it alot more affordable for the masses.
- Reply
DaOtha says:

13 years ago

I have some questions though
1. What bitrate are tge mp3’s? 256 or 320?
2. Will they allow globe and sun loads for payment too in the future?
3. I saw streaming services on the website’s terms. Will there be a subscription model soon for unlimited downloads/device streaming (fee per month, quarter or year) just like spotify?
- Reply
Ross says:

13 years ago

I don’t know what happened but it took my money and didn’t give me my song. :/
- Reply
nls says:

13 years ago

Just bought a song and here are my comments:

1. song has 192 bitrate
2. no preview option like itunes
3. no ID3 tags!

anyway, i was able to buy a song i couldn’t find elsewhere so i’m good.

@Ross, you have 24hrs to download it from time of purchase. It should be there in “My Collection”
- Reply
chacha says:

13 years ago

maybe P20 a song will do since it was only at 192bitrate ;)
- Reply
BoyKurips says:

13 years ago

“will you start buying your music now that thereâ€™s a legit channel for it?” – Syempre NO. Why buy if you can get (download) it for free? Hirap na nga buhay sa Pinas, eto pa ang pag-gagastusan ko ng pera ko. No way.
- Reply
R2 says:

13 years ago

still expensive, 5 pesos or less lang per song sa mga stall sa mall eh.hehe
- Reply
Bote_Dyaryo@Garapa says:

13 years ago

Matagal na ako naghahanap ng ganitong klaseng Music Selling site with lots of Payment mode, I much prefer ePins, sadly pag sa youtube nag rip ng mp3, mababa na ang bitrates, I still prefer higher bitrates, di nito mapapatigil ang piracy, pero kahit papano may ilalaban ito, at yun ang importante.
- Reply
dude says:

13 years ago

It can succeed if the mode of payment is easy and available to everyone. if it’s complicated out requires to much information and setting up accounts then people will get turned off. Like a sari sari store works for load because it’s easily available to everyone. They should sell music at sari sari stores like they do load and everyone would be paying for music instead of pirating it. Only problem for that is storage for your music. Some one should make a business for this idea
- Reply
booboo says:

13 years ago

Sana Globe Load din, andami ko extra load kasi sa Globe. hehe.
- Reply
jm says:

13 years ago

192 bitrate without ID3 tags? Nah.
- Reply
Giovan says:

13 years ago

Another way combating music piracy would be to offer music subscription services something like spotify or pandora in the US which streams in 320kbps. But buying a song for 20 to 35 pesos at 192kbps is just a ripoff what’s the point of buying legally if they don’t offer better quality than pirated music.
- Reply
asdfsadfsadf says:

13 years ago

http://www.mp3skull.com

Ayan free MP3s!
- Reply
HK-47 says:

13 years ago

If they offer lossless files, and a much wider selection of music (beyond the usual pop), then they might get plenty of business from me. As it is right now, sorry.
- Reply
Miko Lopez says:

13 years ago

No 320kbps mp3 files and no .FLAC files for downloads? NO thanks!… I’d rather donate $100 USD to a Torrent/FTPdump site rather than buying low quality files from this “trying hard itunes rip-off” MyCrappyMusicStore.com.ph…
- Reply
Miko Lopez says:

13 years ago

No 320kbps mp3 files and no .FLAC files for downloads? NO thanks!… I’d rather donate $100 USD to a Torrent/FTPdump site rather than buying low quality files from this “trying hard itunes rip-off” MyCrappyMusicStore…
- Reply
Robertson says:

13 years ago

Anu ba ang advantage ng pagbili ng original na kanta??
- Reply
Andre says:

13 years ago

whos behind this?
- Reply
vince says:

13 years ago

is it DRM free?
- Reply
sting says:

13 years ago

just purchased one song…it’s ok…not great but a good way to support opm
- Reply
siwg says:

13 years ago

At least 320kbps bit rate then I’m good. Give me flac, I can shell out max P50 per file =).
- Reply
jay says:

13 years ago

namili ako 1 gary v song. hindi na muna ulit ako bibili until meron option na yun nga ma d download ko kahit kelan yun nabili ko na na song.kc meron ka lang 24hours to download it then gone, no more. tada. bibilin mo ulit. like itunes, yun purchased song or app basta nabili mo na, ma re re-download mo na yun forever. sana meron ganun
- Reply
neeks says:

13 years ago

Checked it out, and my downloads are 256kbps/song. I hoped that it would be at least VBR mp3s, but for your average pop-rock song, its good enough. That’s just me, though. Tagging is horrible: you get the artist, album and artist tags. That’s usually it. Cover art is at 275px. As a librarian, I find this very shoddy, but then again I usually re-tag all my files. I’ll buy again only to support our local artists, who I hope are getting fair compensation from this service.
- Reply
Mica says:

13 years ago

I would definitely support this industry. BUt I do agree with the other comments, 35 is a bit too much for an average Filipino. But kawawa naman yung musicians. Besides, OPM naman eh. I doubt it would be easy to pirate that.

Still a lot to improve for sure.
- Reply
21minutes says:

13 years ago

For the sake of the Philippine Music Industry, YES. PLUS, it has kpop songs. I’m already downloading one song ^_^
- Reply
crackinthewall says:

13 years ago

Nope, I’d rather buy the songs I like on iTunes or Bandcamp. For P45 I get more from these stores than I will get from MyMusicStore now. Don’t tell me that I wouldn’t get OPM songs on iTunes because right now, there is only about a dozen new OPM songs worth paying for. It seems they don’t really understand how digital media works.

1.) Horrible ID3 tags.
2.) Album art should at least be 500x500pixels
3.) Re-downloading songs should still be possible after a month, a year, a decade, etc
4.) Bitrate should at least be VBR 256.
- Reply
techgazine says:

13 years ago

Well, you know Pinoys basta Libre pasok! so I don’t think this will be a hit especially when there are other channels and ways where you can get free music/mp3s.
- Reply
booboo says:

13 years ago

Nag-try ako bumili pero yung songs, although nasa iTunes Library na, ayaw mag-sync sa iPhone. Any help? please.
- Reply