By Andrew Clunis,
Freelance Writer
JAMAICA HAS failed to develop a proper recording industry and Maxine Stowe, of Universal Records, believes there are people on the island who have tried to block development.
"I have known people who have tried to come here and develop the music and people meet them at the airport and threaten them. Also, most of the corporate people in Jamaica don't want to invest in the industry.
"We need to find out the reasons a proper music industry has not been allowed to develop here. What is it that keeps the major companies from coming to Jamaica? "Several organisations like Tuff Gong, Dynamic, Studio One, should be full record companies. Most of the money that is made from reggae remains in the United States and England where VP Records and Jet Star Records are based. We need to find a system in this country to deal with our music." she said.
The music executive was making her contribution at the panel discussion on artiste management during the Caribbean Music Expo in Ocho Rios.
Other panellists were Chris Smith, who is from Annotto Bay, St. Mary and who heads his artiste management company in Canada; Louis A. Bush, president of L. Bush and Company, USA; Jamaican Senator Aloun N'Dombet-Assamba and Colin Leslie, chief executive officer of Imani Music Limited, in Jamaica.
Senator D'Dombet-Assamba implored the artistes and managers to be more keen on financial matters.
Bob Marley
and Peter Tosh
"We have all seen, heard and read what has happened to people like Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and most recently Dennis Brown. Family members of Bob and Peter have had a difficult and expensive time settling their estates. Now, Dennis is having a similar problem. Surely he (Dennis) would have learned from his predecessors. But as we have recently learned from newspaper reports, Dennis' estate owes money for his funeral arrangements," said the Senator, who is general manager of COK Credit Union, Kingston.
As an attorney-at-law, Senator N'Dombet-Assamba drew reference to the state of the estates of such Jamaican artistes as Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Dennis Brown.
"All of us know what Bob's and Peter's families went through to have the artistes' estates settled, which should have prevented others from falling into the same trap. But who among you would have imagined that there could have been an article in the newspapers about Dennis Brown's estate owing money for funeral expenses?" asked a befuddled Senator to an equally bewildered audience.
She went on to debunk the often misguided notion most Jamaican artistes hold in that once you have written a Will, then its an omen that says you are going to die.
"It's not true," she explained, having written her first Will at age 18 and since then had changed it about 20 times to reflect her changing situation.
"Yes, some of you are now young and vibrant and are making lots of money, but I urge you to think about how you are going to handle that money for your own old age, if you live that long, but certainly for the people who depend upon you and the people you care about," she said.
Maximum efficiency
Moderator Clyde McKenzie spoke about the all-inclusive style of management in Jamaica, where one person acts in all capacities. Chris Smith endorsed the point, encouraging artistes to put proper teams in place to ensure maximum efficiency.
Ms. Stowe described the attitudes of many Jamaican artistes as poor, suggesting that many feel they are stars before they begin to make impact overseas.
"They don't realise that they have to start all over. They don't realise that sacrifices have to be made," she said.
Points were raised about the plethora of stars dropped from major labels in the 1990s.
"There has been a major cultural problem with Jamaican artistes internationally and people need to realise that if you come humbly, the world is yours," Miss Stowe said.
