Apl.de.ap's BMBX introduces new Asian talents to the world
The Black Eyed Peas’ Apl.de.ap and his manager, Audie Vergara, are at the helm of BMBX (pronounced "boombox") Entertainment, a new music label and production company that has set its sights on discovering and spreading the sound of fresh talents from Southeast Asia to the rest of the world.
Apl and Audie share a Filipino-American background and a decade of experience in the American music scene.
Audie Vergara, founder of BMBX Ent., says, “I’m on the music business side, anything from marketing to strategy to contracts. Even business development work. I’m helping develop the new label.
Music + business
“Apl obviously knows how to make music and I know the business side of it. In that sense, we complement each other. It’s a unique complementation. We come from the same industry, we’re both Filipinos and we are both looking to do more for our home country.”
The new label has started on its mission with the signing of Pinoy metalcore band, Slapshock.
In the pipeline are two other artists from the Philippines, dance music out of Singapore, and rap from Malaysia.
Bringing LA knowhow to PH talent
Slapshock is about to release an EP recorded in Los Angeles with Apl.de.ap, Shavo Oladjian of System of a Down and Grammy award-winning sound engineer and producer Damien Page Lewis.
This kind of international partnership is an essential ingredient that will set BMBX Ent. apart from other cross-border promotions outfit.
The BMBX Ent. founder elaborates, “When we were envisioning BMBX, we wondered what would happen creatively if we took our production resources and know-how from Los Angeles to Southeast Asia to closely collaborate with local talent.”
How kids ‘consume’ music
“And now, before we go big in the Asian region , we want to make sure that what we’re doing is right starting in the Philippines. We’re supposed to go everywhere eventually and we’d like to make sure what we’re doing is right at the start in our home turf.”
At the outset, the releases will likely be a mixed bag of online and off-the-racks products.
“Our initial marketing task is to find out how kids are consuming music today. We’d like to see the behavioral pattern of those who consume music,” said Audie.
Adapting to preferences
“That means, if they’re on YouTube, we’ll be on YouTube. If they’re also listening to music on their cellphones, we’ll provide easy access to them to our catalog,” he explained.
“We will adapt our distribution to the media that our customers prefer,”
Audie allows that the music industry blames untrammeled piracy for the decline of global sales of recorded music.
About music piracy
He has a strategic response to the long-standing problem of music piracy.
“We believe that the real challenge is to enable people to gain access to even more music so they consume more. One model we’re looking at is that of television where viewing access is sort of subsidized by advertisers. Music consumption can be in that ballpark too,” Audie contends.
“Think of branding. With the types of people today listening to music, can we somehow align the branding model with how music is consumed? We are looking at providing more value to the music and create a base of music fans who we can carry wherever we go and who will care to stay with us in that adventure.”
