By Ayanna Kirton, Staff Reporter
From left, Cavan Lewis, 'Rising Stars' winner, Jon Baker (centre), CEO of Gee Jam Productions and Al Borozie, producer at Gee Jam Studios in Port Antonio, Portland.
- CARLINGTON WILMOT/Freelance Photographer
This is the second of a two-part profile of Jon Baker, CEO of Gee Jam Productions. Part 1 was published in the Financial Gleaner on August 27, 2004.
BORN IN the United Kingdom, Mr. Baker moved to Jamaica 10 years ago. He is the former president of Island Records and is the owner of the San Wood Estate in Port Antonio, which houses the state-of-the-art Gee Jam Studio.
Several members of the international music fraternity have journeyed to Jamaica to stay in the villas at San Wood and work at the residential recording studio often resulting in the production of some of the industry's most groundbreaking records.
However, Mr. Baker is quick to point out that his core business does not lie in the hotel and tourist industry. "People think that we are just a studio for hire but my business model is not in the rental business in terms of tourism or straight studio rentals. It has always been profiting from the intellectual copyright of the productions that I participate in," explains Mr. Baker. "Our core business is our international production and artiste development.
"I own a production company in London and one in New York and we work with and represent producers. From time to time we will get calls from various artistes who want to work with our producers and so they'll come down to Jamaica to use the facility and record here," he elaborates.
TOP ECHELON
"If you look at the villas in San San and the energy one has to put in to filling those beautiful villas, I couldn't compete. I'm up there in the top echelon of the accommodation in this beautiful area but that's not what I do. By the same token running a studio is a full time job and I don't think it is best served by my core business or skill base," says Mr. Baker. Much like his past experience of helping to build the careers of some of hip-hop's finest, Mr. Baker has committed himself to developing the careers of the top four performers of 'Rising Stars' with the formation of Rising Star Records. ('Rising Stars' is the local version of the popular US television show, 'American Idol', which awards recording contracts to its top performers based on popular vote). According to Mr. Baker, he intends to raise some US$500,000 to capitalise the new entity, which will be utilised for interim artiste development costs and the setting up of a record company, which will be based on an international business model. The offices of Rising Star Records will be located in Kingston, and will handle the marketing and promotional activities of the Rising Stars talent, both locally and internationally.
'Rising Stars' winner, Cavan Lewis and three of the finalists of the recently televised competition will also be given the opportunity to record at Gee Jam Studios where they will work closely with the studio's resident producer, Al Borozie. Other international producers will be brought in, in an effort to release a spate of singles by December to package and present to major international record companies.
JAMAICAN TALENT
"This particular company will be the one we utilise to develop our contract with 'New Reality TV' and 'Rising Stars'. It will be the recording and publishing division of Rising Stars, modelled from J-Records' participation in American Idol and BMG's in the UK shows, this is basically how major record companies have worked with the TV shows," Mr. Baker explains.
He also hopes to get corporate Jamaica on board once the venture proves successful. "I am hoping to attract Jamaican investors so that local business people can actually participate in Jamaican talent (because) it is time for them to benefit from their own people and own stars," says Mr. Baker. But "you can't really bring a deejay to a corporate investor with a whole heap of slack lyrics and then say this will be the best thing internationally since sliced bread," he says.
"However, given how 'Rising Stars' captivated Jamaica and that we have been given a three-year contract to work with any finalist that we choose to work with by providing our expertise, knowledge of the industry, and the facilities of Gee Jam Studios, the final stage would be to secure record deals internationally. I don't think you have to be a rocket scientist to see the potential of this company," Mr. Baker says.
"With companies like Puma getting involved in Jamaica and with the success a lot of Jamaican artistes are enjoying internationally, this is the right time for the business fraternity to look at a very clean simple record company business model," he says. However, Mr. Baker admits the industry is in a very depressed period in terms of the finances available for investment compared with previous decades.
"Given that in my business the upset of traditional models has led some companies to go out of business and forced major record companies to merge to increase their repertoire base but halve their employment; to make sense economically, whatever you do now it has to be within budget," he says.
"Major record companies (majors) can no longer afford to do what they did in previous decades develop 10 artistes and spend upwards of US$150,000 on each artiste and only one comes through. You have to be slightly more conservative, really decide whom you will invest your time in. Because majors don't really develop artists anymore, there's an opportunity for production companies like Gee Jam to develop artistes, take them a few steps forward and then bring them to a major international label," suggests Mr. Baker.
ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY
In response to these conditions record companies have been forced to look to other activities to stay out of the red. "It's not just about records anymore; the entertainment industry has had to become multilateral. What happens now is that when you take on a commitment to record or to develop an artiste, very often joint ventures are being made where you participate in their live (shows and tours), recording, and publishing. (This is) because there is not as much money in records as there used to be and so we are developing some new models. Predominantly we're about developing Jamaican talent, hence my involvement in the 'Rising Stars' project," he says.
According to Mr. Baker, though the industry is currently reinventing itself and times are tough, there are still opportunities as activities in the industry are on an upward swing. Within the short to medium term, Gee Jam aims to create a viable enterprise from copyrighting the work of local talent and developing local artistes. The task at hand, however, lies in convincing corporate Jamaica that returns are to be gained from investment in the local entertainment industry.
BUSINESS PARTNERS
But "things are done totally differently in this industry," says Mr. Baker. "And you can't look at an investor and tell them that because they will second guess you, that is why 80 per cent of the money that comes into the industry comes from existing entertainment businesses," says Mr. Baker. As a result, the CEO chooses his business partners carefully. "I don't deal with people who are just down to the buck, I tend to shy away from hard-core venture capitalists because unless someone is prepared to learn and be educated about the dynamics of the music business then it will only be destined for problems," he says.
"I believe in karma in business. If I am going to entice someone to get involved in my business then the deal has to be fair, meaning if two people get into a business relationship, both must do well from an investment standpoint."
