IslandMix - Soca, Reggae, Zouk and Caribbean Entertainment

I was checking out http://boycevoice.com just now & saw a link to this article in Peter's Blog. He's already touched on the issues but it's cool to see someone else mentioning the problems. Artistes and those in the music industry seem to get slack for voicing their opinions because they are thought of as just that...and people think they are being unreasonable. When others write and voice opinions on the same issue, people would look at it a bit deeper. Good article nonetheless.


Do calypsonians get their due? ...An old controversy resurfaces
Web Posted - Sun Aug 12 2007
AT first is appeared as though we would achieve the impossible  a Crop Over without controversy. However, it turned out to be mere wishful thinking. While this year was relatively quiet compared to other years, the festival could not escape one crisis.
For once, the tussle was not simply between the NCF, charged with the organising of the festival, and the calypsonians. This year, the calypsonians also did battle with the islands lone television broadcaster, the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).

As in previous years, once again CBC opted to offer four events of the festival to its viewers. One event was offered on Channel 8  the annual parade past the judges of the costume bands on Grand Kadooment. The other popular events of the festival  the Pic o de Crop Finals (the calypso competition), the Party Monarch finals held on the East Coast and Cohobblopot  were made available via pay-per-view on its MCTV cable television service. In doing so, the CBC attempted to fulfil its joint mandate  being a national broadcaster with a duty to cover events of national significance, and to become a financially credible enterprise, capable of paying its own way. And it seemed at the beginning of the festival that they would succeed.

The issue of payment

However, the issue of payment for performers raised its head. Faced with paying more than the Corporation had originally planned to spend, CBC cancelled the pay-per-view events amid public outcry. Although the promised package was reinstated, just in time for the Party Monarch Finals, it again raised the question of payment and royalties for local performers.

This issue resurfaced during the Cohobblopot show. Pay-per-view customers were informed that the Corporation could not show the performance of Jamaican dancehall artist Mr. Vegas due to copyright issues. Instead, MCTVs pay-per-view customers were treated to a repeat of the first few hours performances, a decision which did not go down well with all viewers.

That was not the only issue with the performance that caused controversy. Besides copyright difficulties, Mr. Vegas performance raised two crucial debates. Firstly, the decision to invite a dancehall artist to perform at an event which has always been a showcase for calypso hardly seemed like a logical decision, and it has been criticised. Secondly, much has been made of the fee the NCF paid to have him perform.

Crucial comparisons

The controversy over Mr. Vegas performance, payment for his services and the copyright issues concerning his performance have all led to some uncomfortable comparisons. Why did CBC find it necessary to try to cancel the pay-per-view coverage this Crop Over, rather than negotiate with local artistes? There seemed to be no difficulty in complying with the management of Mr. Vegas over not televising his performance. On the part of the NCF, when compared with the fee of local performers, what did it cost to have him perform? Almost every year there is some controversy over payment for local calypso artistes. Did the NCF also wrangle with Mr. Vegas management, or did the NCF simply allow them to name a price?

It all points to a problem which local artistes have complained of for years. They feel that they are not given the respect that they are entitled to. With examples such as the controversy surrounding the televising of Crop Over events, it is not hard to see how they have arrived at this conclusion.

i remember saying in an past post: that bajans do not respect local artits, especially the kaiso singers. and that ugly issue has rared its head again.

will things ever change?

NCF needs a serious restructuring...that would be a start. So would improving on the format of radio stations.

why do you think radio in bim is so reluctant to give local artists - especially soca and kaiso aritsts - a heavy dose of rotation?