Clyde McKenzie, Contributor
RECENTLY, the issue of the apparent inability of Jamaican music to secure robust international sales has been the subject of much comment in the media. A number of persons have attributed the failure of our music to gain "mainstream" sales support to an absence of "quality".
While I do think that there is certainly room for qualitative improvements to our music, I believe it is important to note that we must be very careful not to apply the 'right solution to the wrong problem.' Claiming that our "popular music", which for most persons means dancehall, has not taken off internationally, due to its poor quality is like recommending a duco job when one's car is unable to start. The fact that one might need a duco job is irrelevant to the issue of the car's not starting. In the case of popular Jamaican music, its failure to secure wide international acceptance is due to an absence of consistent airplay on mainstream media outlets.
Yes, some will quickly throw up their hands and ask "why are we not getting any airplay? Isn't it because of the poor quality of our music?" Such analysis however is rather simplistic.
Our inability to secure airplay on major media outlets particularly in the United States is due to political rather than qualitative reasons. Both rap and reggae are urban music forms which have come under intense criticism from the establishment. Both rap and reggae have been accused of glorifying violence, sex and materialism. Both genres have been condemned for their minimalist structure and their heavy borrowing from other music forms. What is more is that rap is a direct offshoot of dancehall music. There is one fundamental difference between both music forms. Rap gets significant airplay on mainstream American stations while dancehall music does not. Hence the vast difference in the sales figures of both music forms.
What is worth noting is that black owned media outfits from the United States which should be a natural promotional ally for our music does not support it. Black America was one of the last major social groupings to accept Bob Marley. Jamaican music is given sporadic airplay on Black American media outlets. Occasionally, such names as Ini Kamoze, Beenie Man, Diana King, Shabba Ranks, Shaggy, Maxi Priest and Inner Circle pop up and we start trumpeting that "big things a gwaan" for our music. Usually, the celebration soon gives way to gloom as we realise that success is often fleeting and is usually based on the appeal of a song and on mainstream stations or an artiste.
What is evident from this foregoing scenario is that the promotion of "dancehall music" in particular and reggae music in general, has not been addressed in a structured manner as there are no Jamaican owned and controlled international media outlets to assume this responsibility.
Let us consider this, Latin music, which is one of the big crazes today, experienced the same marketing problems that reggae did. From time to time there would be a Latin act or song that would gain attention in America and then the Latin craze would subside. Supernatural is not Santana's first rush with stardom. He was there 30 years before with Black Magic Woman and Oye Come Va, the latter, a song created by another Hispanic icon, the Puerto Rican Tito Puento, who died earlier this year.
Demographic shifts due to a massive influx of Hispanics primarily from Cuba, Santo Domingo, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Central America have led to Latinos becoming a powerful economic political and cultural force in the United States and the world.
The ownership of media outfits became a top priority in their strategy of Hispanic empowerment. Spanish radio and television stations are a main feature of most major markets in the United States. In New York, Jamaican music got exposure from jocks who bought time on radio stations. The ownership of most of the media houses were suddenly taken over by Hispanics, many of whom did not want to sell time to Jamaicans as did the previous owners. They wanted to promote Hispanic culture. What we have therefore experienced in the last few years is a reduction in the channels truly supportive of exposing Jamaican music.
Distribution
What is clear is as long as we do not control the means of promoting and distributing our music internationally we will never be able to maximise in the economic potential of our music. We will either have to begin to organise ourselves as a serious industry with control over the important levers of our destiny of kiss sustained mainstream success goodbye.
On the other hand, let me hasten to say that international recognition should not be the only indicator of the success of any music form. The success of a music form should be measured by its utility not just economic to the people from whom it springs. Crossover appeal is a bonus which many music forms never achieve. Calypso and soca though technically great music have not achieved much cross-over success in the United States due to the above-mentioned constraints faced by reggae and the fact that they are even more regional in their focus than Jamaican music. The fact that Calypso is not experiencing massive international sales does not mean that the music is not popular nor viable.
So, let us now realise that while we are here wasting time arguing whether dancehall or roots and culture should be the dominant music form neither is making the kind of impact that it could. We could do all we can to sterilise the music for international consumption but out efforts will come to nought if we cannot get a hold of the means of making our voice heard.
