Babyface’s Media Restrictions At Reggae Sumfest Explained By Skatta Burrell, Fans Respond
Reggae Sumfest’s Marketing Strategist, Skatta Burrell, has explained the reasons behind the media restrictions for Baby Face, including the prohibition of videography and widescale media photographs during his performance at the event last week Saturday night.
On Friday, Skatta took to Instagram to clarify why the press pit was cleared during the R&B singer’s set, noting that the American had expressed concerns about copyright infringement issues, among other factors.
“He’s performing not only his songs but others that he has produced and written. However, he don’t own the rights to them and cannot have visuals of those songs online or he can be liable to pay the label/master owners. Not everything is about malicious intent. Sometimes it’s business,” the Coolie Dance producer said.
Skatta also said Babyface had been limiting his public appearances and avoiding interviews in order to maintain his value and exclusivity.
“Babyface’s career was not built during this social media era and he earns an income from his live performances and would rather persons come see his shows in person than have the option of watching the entire thing on YouTube. Of course persons in the audience will record him from afar. However, these will still eventually be taken down by bots,” he said.
“This is also the reason he don’t do interviews nor photo ops. To some artist their exclusivity is what keeps them in demand. Again! Not everything is done with malicious intent. If Michael Jackson was alive today, it would be the same for him and many others,” he added.
On July 15, Reggae Sumfest had issued a notification to accredited media pointing out that there were “some contractual agreements” that had to be enforced during Babyface’s performance, and as a consequence, there were restrictions attached to the R&B singer’s stint, among them, no videography of any of his performance.
The notice had stated that: “Photographers in the Press Pit are allowed to take photos with NO FLASH, of the FIRST THREE SONGS ONLY, in the Babyface Performance. After this all cameras (including phones) must be put away and out of sight. Failure to do this will be considered a breach of our arrangement and should you be found doing taking photos after this point, your pass will become invalid and be removed”.
However, many followers found cold comfort in Skatta’s explanation and insisted that Babyface ought not to have been booked if he had made so many unusual demands of the organisers.
“Those are the artist you leave alone. Now I see why Anita Baker had to dis him and run him off her tour. He had too much demands!….” Tommy, stated, while angieunitedkingdom added: “He wasn’t even worth all the hassle. About security detail, must be Donald Trump, If you can’t accommodate their 1st worlds demands in a 3rd world country, mek them stay. When Movado was in UK no one had time to sit down…next time mek dem stay”.
“From him say no press, he shouldn’t be booked….. wat was the reason to book him???” 1gribbiedon asked before adding: “Nobody was glad to hear Babyface. smh the show is bigger than babyface by far.”
Others said they were unimpressed with Babyface’s need to use other artists’ songs during his stint.
“Don’t know his music.. heard he sang all what he wrote for other singers🤷🏽,” one man pointed out.
“It was unnecessary to have him perform. If he needs to sing other people’s songs, he’s not a star himself,” another added in agreement.
“So the man waan sing the song but don’t want to pay the artists for singing their songs? Why not just try get the clearance being that it’s “Babyface” and he is the song writer?” another man queried, while another added: .
There were, however, some who accepted Skatta’s explanation and others who rose to Babyface’s defence.
“I agree it’s so stupid, you pay to see a performance,did you get pay to come video the people them show , it’s not about full joying any more kmt, wake up and learn there’s music & music business 🇯🇲 not everything is back a wall , come on my people,”one man argued.
Another added: “Alkaline don’t interact with fans. Follows must one person on his socials and does not do interviews. Artiste big or small decide how they brand and present themselves. Simple. Some Jamaicans still think music is hobby”.