Fight for highlight
Published:Sunday | July 6, 2014 | 12:00 AM
Since the start of the year, the music industry has been plagued with much controversy as it relates to young artistes. For the most part, these controversies have been intentional, in an attempt to capture the attention of the media.
Young artistes have tattooed their faces and eyes, made sex tapes and have even admitted to performing sexual acts traditionally described as taboo, all in an attempt to gain popularity.
The Sunday Gleaner interviewed a few up-and-coming artistes, and they believe the Jamaican music industry has left the youngsters with little choice, since the scope for upward mobility in the music business is so limited. According to the artistes, the key to success is not totally based on talent, but also affiliation and access to financial resources.
Up-and-coming dancehall artiste Masicka is using the strategy of affiliation to achieve his aim of becoming a commercial artiste. He recently signed a recording contract with popular dancehall/reggae artiste Konshens and tells The Sunday Gleaner, that the path to stardom is indeed a rough one. He also says some artistes only resort to controversial antics because they crave that illusive attention in the media and public eye.
Good music
"The industry is rough, it's crowded and the competition is stiff, and Jamaica is a small place. The struggle forces artistes to go out of their true character to gain attention, but once you do good music and you are truly talented, it will show and the people will come back in your corner, even after you have damaged that character," he said.
Masicka says the media mostly gives attention to already established acts, and it is already hard enough to compete with them, as producing music videos and acquiring sufficient radio airplay can prove to be very expensive. He also highlighted that some established acts have refused to share the spotlight with young artistes and have set back the music industry in a major way.
"Older artistes will block you if you are not in their circle, but that is how Jamaica is on a whole. Even the politicians want to stay in power and die in their seats without making way for the youth," he said.
The artiste also cautioned against controversy-based promotion, saying that with little or no talent, aspiring artistes can permanently damage their brands in the eyes of the public. "Some people don't care about your personal issues and will support you regardless. But others will withdraw their support and that's just it, but good music can also change that," he said.
The artiste also compared Jamaica's music industry to that of the United States which exposes a sea of new talents each year. Many of those young talents have gone on to perform as closing acts for major events abroad. Unlike the Jamaican music industry that relies heavily on veterans to close major shows and events, American hip hop magazine XXL is also known to carry an annual freshman feature which pays attention to a new crop of hip-hop and R&B artistes each year.
Fast-rising roots reggae artiste Jesse Royal, believes the difficulty of receiving exposure in Jamaica has caused young entertainers to push the envelop, as some have resorted to uncanny promotional tactics. The singer also accuses the industry of having a 'bandwagon mentality.'
"Young artistes are like little kids, so they will do things for you to see them. But what I think, is that we should take control of our own brands so they can't shelf us. In Jamaica, we lack vision and many just love to jump on (the bandwagon) when things a gwaan. But if the youth dem nah get a chance to say what they want to say, dem a guh kick up a storm," the This Morning singer warned.
ARTISTES FADING
Entertainment competitions like Tastee Talent Trail, Magnum Kings and Queens of Dancehall, Digicel Rising Stars and Dancin' Dynamite among others, have managed to showcase hundreds of Jamaican talents. However, even the winners of some of these competitions tend to fade away when the ultimate challenge of breaking into the mainstream industry arises.
The suffocation of aspiring local talent became widely apparent when Tessanne Chin won US vocal talent competition, 'The Voice', in 2013 ahead of several American-born competitors. As the world melted to Chin's vocals, many wondered why the singer wasn't at the time regarded as one of the top vocalists in Jamaica, many of her releases still under the radar at the time.