notoscum.org

The roof is on fire!

So much for the self appointed online home of the Pinoy musician...
How many intelligent people would welcome scammers with open arms into their own homes? How smart is it really if you let these parties rip-off the people you share the roof with?

When people from Filipinometal.com started “invading” their house, it literally crumbled and showed a very ugly face. You see, the Philmusic forums, as they say, is the final frontier of serious musicians looking for anything from gear to gigs. The Filipino musician’s interests come first since this is his home, and his sanctuary. But when the pest inspectors had a look see, all the cockroaches, termites and rats behind the walls were revealed. What a dirty house you have Juan musikero! You sleep on your bed without knowing what is under your sheets---sucking your blood, hiding in the fabric of your comforter.

Isn’t it high time for pest control?

And on I lurked to see what the hoopla was about. A thread was made to spread the word of the infamous Filipinometal.com scumlist---a black list of all known pay to play productions. Suddenly, mainstream musicians commented on what they think they know. Conned bands expressed support, supporters and veteran bands gave their advice. The productions listed in their scumlist were hounded by what seem like unfounded accusations at that time. But then, as the fire spread, you’ll just cringe at these productions’ “lame excuses” (words not mine).

“Eh wala kami pera e.”

“Ano po pambabayad namin sa bar?”

By god, haven’t you heard about capital kid? I won’t comment further. I mean, the Filmet people have brought impressive heavy artillery to slam such claims. Even the (annoying- ED) resident know-it-all knelt down to the validity of the arguments presented. This pay-to-play thing is indeed a scam. And scams are “always wrong no matter how hard you look at them.” The threads of the tank rolled along as many of the same defenses were shot down. Direct and to the point! No remorse. How else will you kill the cockroaches?

One night I got a text from my bandmate: “Pare nasa listahan pala yung X production.” How did he know? Apparently, the pest control looked at the attic. “Bro sa Gig Announcements ko nakita. Tugtog pa ba tayo?”

I never decided that fast in my life.

Some consider it wrong. Threadjacking to be exact. But is it necessary to post that “Hey mister, your shameless production is on the list” in their own turf? Sure. How else will you exterminate the termites eating your floor? You bomb their hole.

But the upholders of public decency and political correctness were not too happy with it. With inane opinions, one mod even had the nerve to say: “Sa mga banda, wag na kayo umaray masyado.” Even going as far as saying that “it (Pay to Play scam) has a place in the universe.” Really? Since when? No wonder the Philippines is riddled with corruption because people like to play safe and ride the fence.

Well, to make the loooong story short, that mod closed the thread and as far as I know, the Filmet people have been banned. He probably can’t take the truth. Probably can’t take the shame that the people he and his “friends” banned have revealed to the spectators the true colors behind that mod veil, and how morally weak they are. Must be the unabashed criticism with the ways they do things around their house that got the best of his ego---specifically, their refusal to police their own gig forum against pay to play productions. Or was it one forumer’s challenge to answer a single question that did him in?

“Sige nga...
Anong tama sa Pay to play...?”

The sound of silence never sounded so sweet. So convincing.

That is the failure of Philmusic. Sure, the people from Filmet who invaded their house were too vicious for their fragile sensitivities. At some point, yes, every word spewed was critical and painfully frank. But everything had the brutal truth---like watching a Tulfo show. All of that I think was justified for they are necessary to pull their heads out of any proverbial hole. Fact is: it made a lot of discerning people see that the Filipino Musician’s home is populated and guarded (bantay salakay?) by some people who don’t really care for the welfare of the Filipino musician. If somebody hits them hard with the truth, all they have to do is press the mod button. (Like what they did to that guy who exposed another bitter truth?- ED)As some of the forumers said, if they can protect gear buyers in the classifieds from scams, why can’t they safeguard the interests of the Filipino gigging musician from all the pay to play productions?

It really amazed me when I thought about it. This situation has been going on for so long. The pests have laid their eggs, hatched them and laid more and nobody noticed. Philmusic has been under attack by your friendly neighborhood akyat-bahay gang and nobody had the right mind to blow the whistle? As far as I am concerned, all of these leave a bad taste in my mouth. The kids who are itching to play will be willing victims by these productions because it is condoned by the self proclaimed home of the Pinoy musician. Why hasn’t anyone or any mod got off his/her ass to at least shoo the pests? How hard is it for any mod to lay down the law and say to the gig posters: “Hey this is wrong, and it must be stopped, please put No remittance/no ticket selling in your threads”? How many servings of iodized salt does it take to see that Pay to Play is wrong? If this is war, and the musicians are the soldiers and townspeople they have sworn to protect, then these mods are traitors.

Or is it because they are protecting friends and they have no gonads to stand up for something that is a total scam and a definite disservice to local musicians?

Well, if the moderators in Philmusic can allow one man (and put him in the mod chair too) to con forumers with his magical screw that sells 500% more than its value (and use), then I am not so surprised.