OPM to hit 10 billion streams, says Spotify

KZ TANDINGAN’s cover of “Two Less Lonely People in the World” became popular after being used in Kita Kita.

ORIGINAL PILIPINO MUSIC (OPM) is set to hit 10 billion streams globally, according to a statement by music streaming service, Spotify.
The service has attributed the rise in Filipino music listening to the opening of its OPM Hub in 2015. The hub features and creates OPM playlists on the platform.
“It is our aim to be a platform of discovery for both artists and music lovers,” Eve Tan, shows & editorial team lead for Spotify Southeast Asia, said in a company release.
“We also aim to uncover every layer of this rhythmic musical culture which is an important component of today’s mainstream, modern music,” she added.
Among the playlists created for the hub are “Tatak Pinoy,” “OPM Favorites,” and “OPM Rising.”
Since 2015, “more OPM content has hit number one spot of the country’s top 50 charts here on Spotify,” said the statement.
Artists such as the pop band Ben&Ben (“Kathang Isip”), pop funk band IV of Spades (“Mundo”) and singer Moira dela Torre (“Tagpuan”) are some of the artists that have dominated the Spotify charts recently.
Filipinos also love original soundtracks, said Spotify, as, based on its data, streams for KZ Tandingan’s cover of the 1982 Air Supply original “Two Less Lonely People in the World” peaked at number two on the Philippines Top 50 charts after it was used in Sigrid Andrea P. Bernardo’s movie Kita Kita (2017).
The same result was seen in Darren Espanto’s cover of Timmy Thomas’ 1990 song “(Dying Inside) To Hold You” which was used in Dan Villegas’ film All of You (2017). — ZBC