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reggae Observations - august 2013

8/24/2013

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The music industry is a convoluted place at best.  The system was  always about exploiting talent and making huge profits for greedy  record  label owners and executives.  The "star making" regimes  bringing us The  Temptations, Smokey, Elvis, Janis Joplin, James Brown,  The Rolling Stones,  Hendrix, Michael Jackson, Bieber, Britney and so  on was only the means to an  end.  These "stars" sell product to us  gullible as well as music loving  consumers.

Record label owners do not reside within the reggae  community.  They  may use us from time to time but there are no powerful  record labels  within the reggae genre (VP and Greensleeves were small to  moderate  labels).  Seems a bit of an oxymoron of sorts that the most  popular /  played music has no infrastructure???

Did reggae shoot  itself in the foot?  Did we make the music really  accessible to the  masses in order to beat the 'block' put on by labels  never playing reggae on  mainstream radio so the 'riddim culture' of  several artists singing on one  'riddim', mixed tapes / CDs, free  internet radio and other creative ways of  playing the music has  totally devalued the music as well as the  genre?

People still clamor to concerts for certain artists yet for the  vast  majority, the reggae game is a 'hustle'.

From my experience in  Canada, it finally dawned on me what we did or  did not do with reggae music.    All those years performing at The  Bamboo on Queen and opening up for  international acts at Lee's Palace,  The El Mocambo or the Copa or The Masonic Temple or The Opera House  was our hanging on to a piece of the  'reggae train' that was a world  wide scene.  We feasted on the 'reggae  train'!  We never created a fan  base of our own!  Artists  performing in Canada have a very limited fan  base as evidenced by the audiences that go to most shows.  It is not for me to decide or to judge whether they are any good or not!  Just pointing out the obvious.

There are the bright lights of the folks who run Redemption, or the Irie Festival and Jambana yet for most of the 'artists' there is limited to zero success where most are concerned.

In conversation with  some of the artists, they point to promoters for events who expect them to perform for free or for little payment.  Some of these artists know exactly how much the headliner is earning yet the promoter won't pay them?  As  artists, they rehearse just as hard, take the same amount of time to write  original tunes and are every bit as good as some of the headliners.  "Why are you paying us less or expecting freeness?".  "Shouldn't talent be properly valued as well as compensated?

In conversation with the promoters, some shy away from some of the artists performing in Canada who insist on "guaranteed payment"!   Are artists guaranteed payment just because they rehearse?

"Guaranteed payment!?!?"

Why?

To a promoter, the headliner / s bring in the audience in the  first place.  With or without the local acts folks go because of  the headliners.  That is a fact of life!  So promoters feel like they are doing the local acts a favor by including them on the bill in the first place.

Another major pet peeve of the promoter is artists who show up with an entourage 10 deep or a 40 person guestlist yet still expect payment at the end of the night.  Really?

Local acts get  all excited to perform and to entertain these audiences then they book their  own shows, maybe five or ten people show up and promoters are aware of these  fails by local acts.

This "fail" is on the shoulders of everyone!   All of us!  We have not inspired reggae consumers to choose our "Canadian" product.  We have not inspired the next generation of reggae  performers!  How come we haven't found a venue of our own created an environment for the fan base to come out and to support the genre?  All  the bands and artists come by and jam week after week and encourage fans from all walks to come by and hang and support?

The knowledge of this is not "news" folks, it is the real!  It is obvious as more and  more folks are having this exact same conversation in all parts of the genre.

I have selfish ulterior motives.  I'd like to earn based on the work that I do.  There are limited amounts of folks in this genre who actually earn anything from their work.  We are so devalued, folks come to jams and still don't wish to pay to get in.  They come  and party yet feel that they shouldn't have to pay.  How come?  They would argue about the ticket price at a Beres show?  I'm  sure that they wouldn't!

We have devalued ourselves!

Our audiences will go where it is cheap and easy as there is always a spot for it.  We will undercut each other every chance that we get.  Promoters will offer x-amount to artist "A"  then offer less to artist "B" who will accept it, then promoter will cancel artist "A".

Fan "A" will go to  another event on Sunday or Tuesday or Wednesday in order to not pay $5.00 at  the door on Monday.  So promoter or event host ends up canceling their  event as the night makes no money.

Is this the fault of the fan?  I think not!  A fan will do anything to be properly entertained.   Anything! At Any price!

This is the beginning of a conversation.  Some observations...  Yes I am seeking viable solutions.


Do you have any?
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