‘Real’ Dancehall Raking In Royalties, As Jamaican Trap Music Shunned Overseas
General Manager of the Jamaica Music Society (JAMMS) Evon Mullings, says the international market is not buying into the new-era (Trap, Hip-Hop, Island Pop) music coming out of Jamaica, based on royalty payments he has seen coming into the country, since deepening collection ties with UK-based Performance Rights Organization Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) late last year.
Mullings told entertainment journalist Anthony Miller during Friday night’s The Entertainment Report programme on Television Jamaica, that the songs raking in the cash are the older, authentic productions dating back to the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.
“What our assessment has been, is that the money is coming in, especially internationally, are (for) what we call catalogue songs. These are songs that have shelf life; songs that have done well and are still doing well and that’s where we have seen the bulk of the money coming in from,” the JAMMS executive explained.
“The more recent sounds coming out of Jamaica – we’re not seeing much royalties flowing in on those types of songs to be honest with you. It is the catalogue songs from the 80s coming forward; even the 90s certainly, and the 2000s, that is where we are seeing the impact,” he said.
Mullings said authenticity appears to be key to winning, as contemporary artistes such as Shenseea, who have stuck to the Jamaican sounds, have been reaping the rewards.
“We’re seeing artistes such as Vershon doing well, Jahmiel doing well, Ding Dong – those guys are doing well. Shenseea, certainly is making huge waves as well. In terms of our more contemporary crop of artistes, it’s really those types of artistes that we are seeing, who are actually making the money right now,” he explained.
“It tells us that the new sounds that we’ve been experimenting with over the last several years, that it is not making the impact. It is not making the impact internationally that maybe a lot of the producers who are making music think it is. It’s not crossing the borders; it’s not turning over the kind of royalties that most persons think it is turning over,” Mullings added.
Skillibeng, members of the 6IX from Montego Bay including its frontman Squash as well as Ocho Rios’ Jahvillani are among the prominent artists who have been voicing on the Trap beats.
Mullings said the reason “why some artistes and the producers of the music would venture into these other sounds that are grabbing the youth”, as a way to get a foothold in the industry, is understandable.
“Because there is a lot of hype round it and it grabs their attention. And so it basically helps to establish them in the streets. It gives them street credibility; it gives them a name,” he said.
Nevertheless, he said even though they may not be strictly going after financial rewards immediately, the artists and producers have to recognize that they are “also in this business to make money for the most part” from their craft, and at some point will have to “transition from that into more substantial music”.
“We love all the sounds because if we never experimented from the time of Ska coming forward, we would never reach Dancehall. So we appreciate the experimentation, but at the same time the international market – they know us for a particular sound and there is a certain authenticity that they are looking for that they are not finding in this new sound. It mimics too much what you are hearing already coming from overseas, and that to me, says a lot. We need to be able to give the world what they know and love from us – authentic Jamaican sounds,” he said.
The GM’s comments validates statements made by Bounty Killer in July 2019, backed up by Beenie Man and Charly Black, in which the Mystery artist argued that producers were doing a disservice to upcoming artistes, as the songs voiced Trap and Island Pop beats have no longevity, and, because they are easily forgotten, will never be classics.
Bounty had said that some Jamaican music producers were no longer guiding the deejays and were steadily eroding the authenticity of the music.
“They are not getting any international successes from these artistes. If you notice Charly Black is doing better than most of the bigger names, because they are not doing the right stuff. But the music is growing but I think they need to pay attention to the roots and listen back where it came from,” Bounty Killer had said in an interview on Trinidad’s Red 96 Radio.
“If you notice, when I came I moved over to the beat that Shabba and Ninja and Supercat was on. I jumped on the Punany, the Sleng Teng, the Answer the Stagalack – all a dem. But when Popcaan and Alkaline come, they throw dem on the Island Pop and the Dancehall Trap and all these things, so they will never ever develop the skills that Bounty learn from Shabba and Ninja cause they are using different tunes and they are given different lessons,” Bounty said at the time.
The Living Dangerously artist also made reference to the music of yesteryear, using his own music as examples, which he said did not have better lyrics or were in any way more special than those of present-day artistes, but that the beats used was what set them apart.
“So we are not having music that lasts like Poor People Fed Up. How much youths have a music that last 15 years? If I run out, I can sing my first hit song Coppershot (because) everybody still remember; it stays. So is not the lyrics. Is just another gangster song. Is no more deeper lyrics than anybody lyrics. Is the beat! That general riddim, it stays!” he had argued.
“The music is not authentic anymore. I neva hear Soca and don’t know a Soca, cause dem neva lose that steel pan… They stop using our sound. They just use the pattern of the beat but the music, sound like everything, so if we were not singing Patois, you can’t know. If you put a rapper on these beats you will believe is a foreign song,” the Seaview Gardens native had said.