Germaine Smith, Staff Reporter
IMAGINE JAMAICAN artistes racking up gold, silver and platinum record sales right here in the country. Imagine having top 10 and top 40 charts which accurately show which tunes are selling well. Imagine musicians bringing in tons of equipment for their bands and paying little or nothing in duty at the wharves or at customs.
It may sound like a fairytale fantasy to some, but not the members of the one year-old Recording Industry Association of Jamaica (RIAJam).
The chairman of this young body, Cleveland 'Cleevie' Brownie, shares a vision with his team which, if properly pursued, may lift both the standards and image of the country's music industry.
ELIMINATING PIRACY
One of the chief missions is a drive to wipe out piracy via the public education route, and to implement a music chart which accurately reflects domestic sales of records. Other aims include offering silver, gold and platinum recognition to records based on domestic sales, offering local, regional and international marketing and distribution of recorded music, tackling technological and Internet issues affecting the music industry, providing public education about the business of music and seeking tax incentives and slackening certain import regulations, among other objectives documented on their Web site.
Speaking with The Sunday Gleaner recently, Brownie gave an overview of the aims of the RIAJam, the challenges which it faces and the dream of its board of directors.
RIAJam's board of directors pulls together a mixed bunch from different areas of the industry. Among them are businessman Chris Cargill, attorney Clyde McKenzie, producers Stephen Ventura, Paul Henton, Robert Livingston and Sly Dunbar. According to Brownie, this mix of talent and expertise will bring business flavour to the organisation and hence freshness and innovation in its operations.
One of the main goals is to stamp out piracy, not only by using prosecution, but by educating the public of the implications of the practice.
"One factor we all agree on is that piracy will lead to the demise of our music," he stated. "The fact that it is so easy to do, if people could download a BMW they would, because of how simple the task is. What they need to learn, however, is that when people pirate music, it is not just the plastic, it is the intellectual work that goes on it. That is what people need to understand."
To tackle the piracy mentality, the organisation plans to go on a widespread public education campaign to sensitise individuals about how important an artiste's work is to him/her and how the music business suffers when the work is ripped off.
"If we claim to really love our artistes, you must really support them by buying their music," he concluded.
ALL SYSTEMS 'GO'
With regards to implementing the charts, in theory, all systems are go. "In principle, we have concluded the method," Browne told The Sunday Gleaner "It (the method) is similar to that used by the Billboard Magazine (Soundscan), because it has to reflect domestic sales. Domestic sales are a true reflection of Jamaica's choice, and we must not confuse them with exports... We are looking at placing an ID on the products just like a barcode, so that when it is sold it is recorded. If goods in the supermarket can have them, we can apply it to the record business too."
"We don't know all the costs involved yet, as we are looking at the feasibility of it all. We may have to equip the record stores with equipment and this costs money."
Tied in with the charts would be certification for singles or albums which have sold well. RIAJ plans to implement silver, gold, and platinum categories. Because of the nature of Jamaica's marketplace, the quantities could not be similar to the requirements of the United States where platinum means sales of over one million units.
