Points of Pain in Jamaica Music Industry

Since 1995, I have being involved in the entertainment industry. My first involvement was with recording studio construction, and my first project was doing the finish fabric work on Bob Marley's studio at 56 Hope Road in Kingston Jamaica. Ziggy had decided to remodel his father's studio and I got involved after speaking to the designer Steven Koontz. To date I have worked on about six of these projects, including Threshold Music in New York City, Shaggy's studio (now The Ranch Entertainment) and Big Yard Music (New York). For many years, I have wanted to get more involved in the entertainment industry. However, what kept me away was the hype that this business brings with it. Over the years I have heard horror stories of how artists have robbed by their producers or managers, mainly because they did not know their rights, some even gave away their right without knowing it. As I have mentioned on many occasions, my focus is primarily towards the reggae genre. This genre has many points of pain that needs remedied.

Source: Jamaica Observer

Through my company JamDung Entertainment, LLC we will be offering top-notch service in artist management and consulting to this genre, especially to artists out of Jamaica. Through the excellent education I have received from Full Sail University, I will be able to focus on areas like, effective artist management, intellectual proprieties, copyright, contract negotiation, and the many other integral areas of focus. Artist Management is a mundane task, which requires a professional approach. Many Jamaican artists do not have their house in order and when they died their families are scrambling on what to do. This is the case with veteran reggae artist Sugar Minott who died recently without leaving a will, and now the Administrator General is managing his estate. According to his wife, "In Sugar's case his business wasn't structured properly." This is the case with many Jamaican artists as the entertainment business is over saturated with too many unprofessional people, who have no clue of what they are doing. If a person wants to become a doctor he/she has to go to medical school, a teacher has to go to teacher, college etc. Therefore, persons wanting to enter the entertainment industry should have the proper training. To this end I believe a form of prerequisite structure will help in this regard.

photo by: Coretta Kettle

The Jamaica Music Industry is no different it lacks structure to the core. However the Jamaican Government is trying to regularize the industry and "is establishing a rating system for entertainment events". According to an article in the Jamaica Observer newspaper the rating system will rate all events in a similar fashion as the film industry. There are also plans for a registry, which will track promoters and artists. As a professional in this industry with plans to focus my ability towards the Jamaica Music industry, I believe the registry system is the way to go. This could be the beginning of bringing structure to an area that has not seen structure since its inception.

Is Artist Management Worth the Risk?

I am often asked why I chose to focus my career on Artist Management? Is it worth the headache and all the problems associated with managing artists who are some times regarded as been ungrateful? I believe artist management is the foundation on which a talent or artist career is based upon. Artist management connects all the dots in the maze of entertainment business. It's the basics on which the artist is groomed to have a successful career.

Recently an article in the Jamaica Gleaner we learned of the split between Shane Brown (manager) and Busy Signal (artist). In this day and age how could Brown manage and artist without having a written contract? Even though verbal agreements can be legally binding in court a written agreement cuts through the red tape. I have said it time and time again, that its time the reggae industry starts treating this industry as a business and not just a mere hobby. What form of accounting system did Brown have in place to protect both himself and the artist in the even there was a split? According to Brown "Contractual agreement don't bar ungratefulness" this maybe true, but it mitigates an artist terminating his/her contract cold turkey. It was easy for Busy Signal to terminate Brown's services, since there was no written contractual obligation and Brown is willing to walk away with out a fight, not even to collect the residuals from seven years of investment in this artist career.

Artists will leave your roster from time to time, and that is okay. However it should be done in a professional way and within the contract guidelines. It is reported that Brown is now managing Taurus Riley; I hope for his own good he now has a written contract with Riley. The personal and financial investments in an artist are great. Many artists (especially, out of Jamaica) mistake the roles that a manger plays in their career. A manager is not a booking agent, neither is he/she a publicist or your attorney.