EDITORIAL: The Africa Reggae Connection
I am writing this article while on my first but hopefully not my last visit to the motherland Africa. I must confess that my stay so far has been an eye opener. I have come to the conclusion that the African continent provides the absolute best opportunities and possibilities for music business collaborations for both government and private Jamaican interests.
There are some very compelling reasons for my conclusion. The first of which is the fact that the potential market size for live Reggae concert presentations in Africa way surpasses that of North America and Europe. My second reason is the fact that music industry development opportinities exist in abundance in African countries, and Jamaican and Reggae music business operators are highly regarded there and welcomed to participate.
The time to get involved in exploring business partnership opportunites for Reggae in Africa is now. There is no questioning of the fact that South Africa and the entire continent will never be the same after World Cup Football 2010. The stage is already set to present Africa to the rest of the world in a manner never before witnessed, as a result of the positive publicity likely to flow from the staging in South Africa of the largest sporting and media event in the world. The South African government has also made the brilliant move of securing the featured country status at this year’s MIDEM music convention in Cannes, France. I have no doubt that one of the main aspects of South Africa’s 2010 MIDEM promotion campaign will be the upcoming World Cup. I am sure many movers and shakers in the international music industry will end up making their first trip to South Africa this year.
Since being here in Abidjan, the capital city of the Ivory Coast, I have had my first experience of a top class international music TV channel that dedicates a very significant portion of its content to Reggae and Jamaican music. TRACE TV Africa is broadcast throughout the African continent and originates out of France. I am not aware of any other music TV channel that provides ongoing daily exposure and promotion of Reggae to hundreds of millions of viewers.
As the music business models change and the emphasis on revenue streams shifts from record sales to live shows and copyright royalties earned from radio and TV play, markets like Africa now take on new significance. 2009 was a very bad year for music generally and for Reggae in particular. However, 2010 could signal the start of something good for Reggae and Jamaican music if we just look to Mama Africa.
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Jamaican-born author exposes 'Deadly Instincts.'
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