BEHIND THE SCENES

Melody of Faith
by Alfred P. Dizon

(Jerry Baclagon writes this week’s column)
For gospel music lover Johnny Sy, retailing gospel songs was his mission. He first heard the call to spread gospel music in 1972, when he saw more than 100,000 people flock to the Rizal Football Stadium to see the three-night concert of a Christian rock band from the United States.
The well-attended event confirmed for him what he knew in his heart was true: many shared his love for contemporary gospel music. Thus Sy painstakingly built his business, going form church to church until 1980, when he put up his first Praise Inc. store. Now he has more than 80 stores nationwide spreading the good news through music.

Faith was the only guidance Sy needed to start the business. He did neither a feasibility study nor a market research. These forecasting tools came later, when Praise was already established. Nevertheless Sy was an entrepreneur by heart for he knew his market: “All I knew was that I love gospel music, and that there were so many people like me whop love Christian music. Gospel music was not widely available in the Philippines then, and I saw a market.”
He also knew his product: Gospel music stood apart from other music genres because it carried the message of hope. “It makes you feel good about yourself and your situation. It helps you believe that you can come out of that situation. This music changes lives.”

After attending a business orientation of Maranatha (a leading Christian record label in the U.S.), Sy acquired some titles, set up tables outside churches and Christian conventions, and sold his music tapes.

After eight years of building connections, competence, and credibility, he decided in 1980 to set up Praise on P200,000 capital to distribute quality internationally and locally produced Christian products like music and video tapes, book and magazines, and gift items.

Praise’s first six months were Sy’s baptism of fire. His capital ran out during this period, had no outlets to display and sell the products, no radio airplay to boost sales (people normally buy what they hear on the radio), and no unity among the many denominations of Christians in the country (people were asking if the music tapes were Catholic or Protestant, Franciscan or Jesuit, and Pentecostal or Baptist). “On the Christian side, particularly in the Philippines, parishioners were very conscious about denominations.”

Sy tried to convince the Christian bookstores to get past the denomination issue and carry his products because they promoted good values and conformed to Biblical teachings. “Our biggest challenge was to educate our market that this is not a denomination-based music, that it is for everybody to enjoy,” says Al Torres, Praise’s music publishing and marketing manager.

While this was going on, Sy and his wife also ventured into the Christian bookstores business and set up Jacob’s Well on Aurora Boulevard in Quezon City, where their entire music catalog was displayed.

Sy was able to recoup his investment in two years when Praise’s catalog grew to more than 50 albums and the market finally accepted gospel music. “Secular stores gave us a permanent space where we could display our products.”

Praise adopted a number of tactics to carve a niche for itself. One it targeted young Christians who liked uplifting, Christian lyrics set to contemporary music. “When we first introduced our products in the market we had a good response among the young people. It came to the point where they were looking for more titles to release,” says Torres.

Two, praise invited foreign contemporary Christian music artists to do concerts in the country. Three, the company went to churches and introduced the songs, which were eventually incorporated in their praise and worship repertoire. Four, it set up Praise Clubs, where members get 10-percent discounts on Praise products, ticket discounts to concerts and seminars, free catalogs, invitations, and quarterly CD samplers.

There are around 7,000 Praise Club members to date. “We achieved growth sometime in 1983 and that was our turning point. The response was phenomenal. That was the time we realized that Praise would be a long-term business.”

Although gospel music has proven its endurance, Praise is still looking for ways to keep up with the times and stay profitable. Almost 40 percent of the company’s business is lost to piracy. To curb this, Praise has launched an educational campaign on piracy and the copyrights law in churches.

“We want to educate our customers regarding the law. Most of them may not be aware that they are violating it, so this is our way of gently rebuking them,” says SY. But as a ministry-based business, Praise is also doing its best to make its products easy on the pocket.