| Charles Campbell Sunday, February 19, 2006 |
Recently, I encountered a practice amongst artistes' managers that I find offensive. Reggae artistes should question if this practice of their managers marrying lesser lights - artistes with less talent, experience and exposure - to their own burgeoning careers, accrue to their benefit, or if in fact it injures their potential for increased performance bookings.
For argument's sake, let's say I'm an event producer and I have conceptualised an event programme and line-up in keeping with my objectives. I am interested in booking Fantan Mojah, but when his booking agent is contacted by my staff, they are informed that if we want Fantan, a Reggae/Dancehall artiste with a formidable track record and at least four solid hits to his credit, we will also have to book his stablemate, Nanko, who can only be classified as a one-hit wonder.
Technically, this is a form of extortion; that is forcing me to pay for goods or services that I do not want because you have the power or monopoly over other goods or services that I do want. Furthermore, Jamaican law explicitly forbids cartelisation.
We declined the suggestion, and so the manager increases Fantan's fee by $200,000.
This could imply one of two things - either that the agent was originally under-pricing Fantan Mojah in order to obtain bookings for Nanko, or we were expected to capitulate and hire both acts, thereby subverting our principles and hurting our programme. If we do not cave in, the result is that Fantan Mojah is no longer on the line-up of an event that could theoretically be the pivot his career needs to catapult him to international stardom.
What amazes me, however, is how widespread this practice has become in Jamaica in a short span. Yet no one seems prepared to come forward and speak out against this abhorrent business practice, for fear that their future productions will be boycotted by other agents and managers. "The [player] who plays by the rules is the one who gets shafted."
Instead, stage show audiences are often subjected to, and have to suffer through a slew of "yute a try a ting", while waiting for the headliners to take the stage.
These occurrences provoke comment on another practice, essentially borrowed from the Dancehall and out of its appropriate cultural space, that has become a feature of many stage shows - artistes bringing on numerous unscheduled acts (almost infinitum) during their stint on stage, many times to the utter boredom of most members of the audience.
All the same, I must admit that every now and again, during these charades, I have witnessed artistes bring on a stage guest during their performances, only to be upstaged and outclassed by that unknown act. In these circumstances, it becomes quite hilarious to watch the scheduled act try to recover the microphone, composure and audience attention.
These are some issues, urgent of debate within the music fraternity, since we are at variance from the international norms on these matters and it does irk international promoters and audiences and veer them away from booking our acts. In these cases, Reggae acts from other islands and countries are given preference where our talent and authenticity should naturally give us the edge.
The Jamaican people who pay to attend these shows must begin to let their voices be heard on these matters, while demanding that promoters use more objective criteria in developing their line-up and running order. For far too long, we have allowed our standards to be subverted and whittled away because we are unprepared to "get up, stand up for our rights", as Reggae icon Peter Tosh consistently encouraged us to do. No struggle is painless and victory comes at a price.
Over the last few days, I discussed this issue with a number of music industry personages. I was consistently cautioned, even by close associates, not to introduce the subject publicly, because I might prejudice my own short-term self-interest. If however, we want to improve the planning and organisation of live shows in this country on the eve of a renaissance, we must again go back to respecting some basic principles and ethics.
This, to a great extent, is what is holding back the potential of Reggae/Dancehall music and its practitioners. It is not that we do not have the talent in abundance, creativity or determination to succeed, instead we are hampered by poor business standards and strategies, as well as disregard for morality, ethics and codes of conduct.
I make no claim to be any paragon of virtue, but I do believe that it is incumbent on all of us to seek to protect the integrity of the Reggae music industry. In this regard, its main players and supporters have a special responsibility to take the lead in rebalancing and restructuring the scheme of things, including how we conduct our business affairs.
On a much more pleasant issue, I boldly predicted that Damian 'Junior Gong' Marley would win the Reggae Grammy for the album Welcome To Jamrock. In fact, he bettered this by also winning the Grammy for Best Alternative/Urban Performance.
I wish to wholeheartedly congratulate Damian on these accomplishments. While all the other nominees were also deserving of their nominations, it was always obvious that Welcome To Jamrock was way out front in terms of worldwide appeal and impact.
This time, locally, there has been no controversy about the selected winner, or the anticipated cynicism implying that his Marley genealogy added weight to his chances. The title song is a song of its time.
Big Up Junior! If I might give you some advice, too often our acts win one award and suddenly take off into the stratosphere, do silly things, change their address, their lifestyle, their producers, their managers, their friends- remember, "the higher monkey climb, the more him expose". Stay grounded; remember where you are coming from and what brought you here.
Please see this as a milestone on your career path and use it as a stepping stone to further successes. One Love, Uncle Charles.
PS Welcome back, Tim and Zola. Joining the team gets us to comfort zone and completes the karmic circle.
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