Audiomack new playlist series to showcase Caribbean-wide talent
Published:Sunday | February 19, 2023 | 3:18 AMStephanie Lyew - Gleaner Writer
For the past two years, Audiomack has formulated several campaigns represented in a series of verified playlists spotlighting the talent of disc jockeys, the leading sounds and emerging acts.
According to Tanya Lawson, Audiomack’s director of the Caribbean and Afrobeats Music division, series like ‘Bless The Yaad’, which featured some of the trending acts in reggae and dancehall freestyling on video and ‘Sounds of Jamaica’, having zoomed in on the music by parish, had an impressive following. The global streaming platform is reimagining the concept to feature artistes who are gaining traction or show potential around the Caribbean.
Through the innovation of the playlist series, Lawson and her team have consulted with disc jockeys and with the upcoming launch of ‘Made in Caribbean’, Audiomack has selected one from each, of approximately, 25 islands to be featured.
“The playlists such as the verified dancehall and verified Caribbean, continue to do what they are supposed to, but with the success of series like ‘Sounds of Jamaica’ our platform has given support to many artistes and normalise it, these are artistes who may not be getting it as they would like to,” Lawson told The Gleaner.
She added, “Now, it would be impossible to emulate what we did with ‘Sounds of Jamaica’, meaning by a parish or community with each island [so] we’ve once again connected with DJs. This time around, we want to highlight one top DJ from an island and have him or her curate playlists with artistes’ music, but specifically, those coming from the island.”
Popular selectors/disc jockeys, Puffy of Barbados; Rusty G of Bermuda; Echo TT of Trinidad; Ovadose out of The Bahamas; and Jamaica’s Boom Boom, will lead the series with their specially curated playlists of artistes whose music they will handpick, not only because they consider them to be ‘hot’, but also see their potential to become their island’s next big star.
Lawson explained that it does not hinge on what artiste or artiste’s song that is trending or leading the charts unless that talent has roots on the island they represent.
“So, if Skeng’s music is getting a lot of airplay in Trinidad or is a hot act in Barbados, the DJs are not to add those songs to their playlists. We are tapping into the homegrown music or genres from each and every island by quarter; in another three weeks we start with a soft launch on Audiomack World for our first five and then another five the next quarter,” she explained.
Noting that there are “real barriers” keeping the music of some recording artistes off the air or getting enough plays to be recognised, and Audiomack has observed where international or foreign talent receive more airplay.
“Globally, people are always in search of the next big thing; it may not be dancehall, it could be soca or ‘Trinibad’, a new style of dancehall and rap from Trinidad or zouk from Martinique. We want to, at the end of the day, give equal opportunity and support and break new artistes,” she shared.
“Trust me, there is a method behind all this madness. Overall, this is an ongoing effort to push music coming from the Caribbean, raise awareness of the revolutionary creativity happening to the music of the region. There are also plans for it to evolve into a video series, where we choose the hottest and leading artistes from each playlist and show persons the face behind the lyrics.”