Lutan Fyah Demands More Entertainment Zones, And Reggae Airplay Quotas

Reggae artist Lutan Fyah is advocating that the government constructs more entertainment zones across the island and re-examines how the Noise Abatement Act is executed by local law enforcement officials.

“I don’t think it’s fair to just go around and lock off a party because normally every party already has to get a permit to do the event, so why lock off the dance when the government was already paid to issue a permit? Is like a double taxation and it ah create corruption within the police force itself,” the Bossman singer told DancehallMag.

“Police now decide which events get lock off and which don’t even though everybody pays the same fees. All citizens have a say in our society. So if some people say it’s noise to them then we have to find a new way to do parties, and that is through the creation of zones all over the island, so why just two alone?”.

Lutan Fyah was responding to a recent announcement by Finance Minister Dr. Nigel Clarke that the necessary funding of $120 million has been included in the budget to complete the rehabilitation of JamWorld [in Portmore, St Catherine] and Fort Rocky as fully functional 24/7 entertainment zones”.

“We applaud this effort, but we need more, much more than this. The entertainment sector brings in billions of tax dollars annually as part of the tourism product and through earnings and revenue, but the government treats it with little regard,” Lutan Fyah said.

To underline the entertainment sector’s impact, municipal corporations across the island lost in excess of $2 billion in revenue from entertainment and advertising fees in 18 months, due to the shuttering of the sector to curtail the spread of COVID-19.

“Reggae and dancehall generates billions. We need better representation, less victimization, more infrastructure and business support for local creative industries, for promoters and festivals so we can reach our full potential,” Lutan Fyah said.

The government allotted a princely sum of $15.4 billion for the 2023/24 period to fortifying Jamaica’s entertainment, culture, and creative industries. However, Lutan Fyah remains largely unimpressed.

“What we need is real dialogue and private-public sector partnerships to develop the reggae product to its maximum potential,” he said.

REGGAE ON THE AIRWAVES

A staunch advocate of roots reggae, Lutan Fyah said he would like more reggae music to be played on the nation’s airwaves.

“Reggae music is the topic jah. It nah play in Jamaica but the world has 600 festivals yearly. Bob Marley still a hit charts. This music was created in our country, why isn’t more of it being played on our airwaves?” he asked.

Minister of Entertainment Olivia “Babsy” Grange has suggested that the Government might have to consider the establishment of minimum quotas to get Jamaica’s radio stations to play majority local music, similar to its Canadian counterparts. In her address at the Negril Entertainment Association’s inaugural conference in 2023, Minister Grange said:

“I know the radio stations love to play foreign music, and I also know that we have to work on improving our productions and our output in order to balance. And, of course, Government has a role to play. In Canada, there is a minimum quota for playing local content. And this is something that we also need to look at.”

In France, a law introduced in 1994 stipulates that at least 40 percent of songs played on radio stations must be in French. It was introduced as part of efforts to stem the encroachment of English into French culture and give a helping hand to homegrown talent.

According to figures obtained by DancehallMag from the Jamaica Association of Composers, Authors and Publishers Limited (JACAP), the percentage of money that remains with local copyrights holders remains lopsided.

In 2020, of the $106,602,998 in royalties collected by JACAP, 35 percent—a total of $37,385,556—was paid to local interests, while $69,217,442 was paid to foreigners.

Some experts believe that quotas may have the opposite effect and lead to a lack of diversity on the airwaves as broadcasters ignore new talents and play already established acts to ‘fill quotas.’ But Lutan Fyah is willing to take that chance.

“We have too much foreign music in the Land of Reggae. We need laws that can change these ratios, we need a certain percentage of our music playing here. How can foreign artistes earn more here from airplay? How can that happen in the land of reggae music, where we have so many indigenous music that we have created?” Lutan asked.

Lutan Fyah said that despite the blatant disrespect in its own country of origin, reggae continues to thrive.

“I think reggae music is emerging across the world regardless of little or no popularity in Jamaica . This gives the reggae players to dig in and create more raw original reggae that is loved by the music fans. Dancehall only have a following and a clout, but no real fanbase. We need to understand what’s happening with our music and the direction it’s going and try fi safeguard it in a way weh keep it afloat,” he asserted.

He spoke to the continued evolution of reggae music, incorporating new sounds, but Lutan asserts: “yu can’t fix what ain’t broke.”

“What’s more universal than the reggae itself?” Lutan questioned.

“There’s a rudiment that keep it one way and make that particular music reggae and sometime with the evolution, that rudiment get shift up and change up, and man seh dem a try improvise and mek it more universal. But reggae already universal, no change no necessary for a unifying force that already shift the world,” he added.

Lutan Fyah, who is managed by Cabel Stephenson of Free People Entertainment, is booked to appear at this year’s Reggae on the River show in California, his first time back on the show since 2017.

The Save the Juveniles singer recently returned to the island after crowd-pleasing performances at Cali Vibes festival and several other shows in California. He performed at a show in Senegal. He was also among the headliners for the Reggae Gold Award and 2024 Jamaica Music Museum Hall of Fame Inductions in Kingston.

He performed at Jo Mersa Marley’s birthday celebration and has upcoming shows in Africa, the US, and an upcoming tour of Europe in October.

Additionally, the Reggae singer is expected to release a new album in August this year.

“We ah go continue to defend this great reggae music out there in the wider world because we believe inna the mission, jah. Believe!” he said.