Understanding the Illusive Music Business

“Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family.” This is a famous quote from Ghanaian diplomat Kofi Annan. Mr.Annan served as the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations from January 1997 to December 2006. It is the year 2018, yet this quote from 21 years ago has little to no meaning to the average Jamaican youth, especially within the music industry. As a youth trying to make it in the industry it is imperative that before you enter the industry, you have at least a knowledge of it. It is a travesty for these young talented musicians to exploited financially. As a result of this, on whose shoulder do we lay the blame for this trend that seems to never end?

Ghanaian diplomat, Kofi Annan who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations from January 1997 to December 2006.

There are many factors contributing to why people are exploited within the music industry. The two most common reasons are either managers and record labels reaping a much higher percentage from record sales and secondly, failure of the recording artists to analyse the contracts with which they are presented to sign. Ignorance is no defence to plea, and so all aspiring artistes must adequately equip themselves with the knowledge of the business side of the industry. To find out if they are aware of they are signing into, a question we should ask upcoming entertainers is What is a Music Industry? The answer to this question should fall along the lines of when all parties involved with the creation, performance, recording, promoting and managing the profitable business of music. This being said, failure to know what the music industry is truly about will leave them at the whim of any manager or promoter who seizes the first opportunity to reap the financial benefits for themselves. Young Jamaican entertainers should eliminate the ‘get rich quick mentality’ from their minds and instead, focus on carving out a career that will sustain them for the long term. They need to grasp the concept that after one hit song there is more than just instant fame and fortune, but there can be a long-term future for their careers.

I conducted an interview with young upcoming entertainer Dominic Murdock, who goes by the name of D’East. I asked him about his experience within the music industry and how it has helped to shape his career. His response confirmed one of my worst fears. The lack of knowledge among the entertainer have led me to believe that the blatant exploitation of entertainers will continue for a long time.

. Recording Artist D’East

An example of an entertainer having the lack of knowledge in the industry and being exploited is with LIME, telecommunications network and two- hit wonder Potential Kidd. In 2012, LIME launched a campaign called the ‘A YAH SUH NICE.’ This campaign was named after Potential Kidd’s hit song “A YAH SUH NICE”. During this period Potential Kidd was a new artiste on the scene who was rocking the Jamaican airwaves with his hit song. After a few weeks, he was dropped from the campaign because LIME stated that the raw version of the song was bashing homosexuals and promoting rape culture. LIME stated that they didn’t know about the raw version of the track, they only heard the radio track first. For those who don’t know a raw version of a track is basically the unedited version of a song while the radio version is the edited version of the track that is suitable for commercial use. Even when they dropped him they were still using his catch phrase a yah suh nice. Potential Kidd was not compensated at all for their use of his catch phrase. This could have been avoided if Potential Kidd had the knowledge of the music industry and how it really works especially when corporate businesses are involved.

. Recording artist Potential Kidd