THE unavailability of some in-demand rhythms is causing a rift in the music industry with record shops blaming producers and producers blaming distributors for the shortage.
Rhythms such as the Trilogy, Superstar, Blaze, Bad Weather and Teacher are not available in record shops even though they are popular among music lovers and have already been receiving airplay.
Checks with record shops around the Corporate Area revealed that the shops were not pleased with the record shortage.
"It's affecting us badly because the rhythms are not available to the soundman. Sometimes the producers don't release the rhythms in time and we can't do anything about it. Everybody seems to be waiting until Easter. But they are affecting the music. Even though the producers may lose it wont be much," said a salesperson at Aquarius records.
Producers of the rhythms Blaze and Trilogy, Ward 21 and Christopher James said the prime reason for the scarcity of their rhythms was distribution problems. Both producers currently use the same distributor Dynamic Sounds. According to them, the rhythms should have been released earlier this year.
"The only CDs that have been released are those given to the radio stations. Dynamic Sounds were given the responsibility to distribute the rhythms. However, they haven't started distributing them yet. They haven't told us when they will be sending them out. I hope it will be available soon. It should have been released from February," Christopher James told THE STAR.
Sucko from Ward 21 also had a similar story. "It (Trilogy Rhythm) was supposed to be released in January but we are having problems from Dynamic Sounds. They had given us some earlier but those were for export," he told THE STAR.
The distributor of Teacher and Bad Weather rhythms, produced by Steely and Clevie, says the prime reason for the delay was due to problems they were having. "It's was not my decision not to release them. We were having problems with the record pressing aspect and so they are late. They will be released in two weeks though," said Claude Walker of CariBeat entertainment.
Manager at El Paso, Kingston Roger Robinson said delays in the release of the rhythms was affecting his business. "The producers give the stations the rhythms months before and we don't have anything to sell and we get the bad name. As soon as people hear the stuff and like it they ask for it and this makes them think we are not up to date. It is bad for the business as it is encouraging piracy. People will hear the rhythms dub them off from the radio and then burn them on CDs," he said.
