SOME OF THE WORLD’S most popular singers and performing artists have come from the Caribbean. Jamaica’s Bob Marley and Barbados’ Rihanna immediately come to mind.
Both have sold millions of records and have huge international fan bases. But does the Caribbean truly have a music industry and are its participants getting the respect they deserve? More importantly, are they getting the financial rewards for their creativity?
Music is big business.
Global recording music sales reached US$15 billion last year alone, according to a recent report from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) based in Switzerland. Some of the world’s leading performers also make millions of dollars annually from touring and performing at live shows.
But even those who produce CD singles and albums have been under pressure, largely because of increased digital music sales and the growing popularity of online streaming services.
Further information from IFPI for 2014 showed that overall global recorded music trade revenues declined by 0.4 per cent, revenue from digital channels increased by 6.9 per cent, revenues from subscription services increased by 39 per cent, revenues from physical format sales declined by 8.1 per cent, global performance rights revenue increased by 8.3 per cent.
Interestingly, the report mentioned the Caribbean prominently in terms of regions and countries which used music streaming heavily.
“In Sweden, the home base of Spotify, and in Norway, where TIDAL originates, the music streaming market accounts for 69.7 per cent and 62.8 per cent respectively of the recorded music market. The fourth member in the music streaming champion’s league is South Korea, with a music streaming market share of 53.2 per cent.” the report said.
“Denmark (48.7 per cent), Columbia (48.3 per cent) and the Caribbean states (including Barbados, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica and Panama) (42.1 per cent) and the [United States] (41.9 per cent), also have an overall market share of more than 40 per cent. Taiwan (37.3 per cent), India (35 per cent), Finland (34.8 per cent), Peru (32.5 per cent), Thailand (32.4 per cent) and Singapore (30.2 per cent) have a streaming share of more than 30 per cent,” it added.
All of this information suggests not only that the music industry is one of the largest in the world, but that the Latin American and Caribbean region is one of the leading consumers of music. The region also produces its own music, though not on the same scale.
Artists depend largely on live performances to make money, and in the case of Barbados and other places in the Caribbean much of their earning potential surrounds annual national festivals like Crop Over.
Minister of Culture Stephen Lashley has repeated touted the Cultural Industries Development Act as a major means through which singers, musicians and other cultural practitioners can make more money, but he also feels increased live performances and the availability of more performing venues is another way through which artists can earn more money.
Speaking during the annual Digicel Reggae Festival two months ago, Lashley said: “One of the things we certainly have to look at in Barbados is creating more venues for entertainment. We make a mistake by only pointing to the Government to create venues. Private developers and entrepreneurs who have been making this their business also need to focus on the other aspect of creating venues that can host huge shows.”
He added: “I think people need to see music as a business. It is no longer a pastime. It is not only on stage, there is the whole dynamic of the management of the artist, creating the whole awareness of copyright. All of those areas are ripe for business ventures and I want to encourage the private sector to come on board. A lot of our artists require support; it is not only the Government that can give them that support.”
The collection of royalties from recorded music is another way artists from Barbados and the Caribbean can earn money.
According to the 2015 Global Collections Report issued by the International Confederation of Authors and Composers Societies, its Latin America and Caribbean societies’ income from the use of music repertoires accounted for 88.2 per cent of the region’s revenue in 2013, up from 87.2 per cent in 2012. About US$503.3 million from the use of the music repertoire was collected in 2013, compared to 2012’s US$425.6.
