IslandMix - Soca, Reggae, Zouk and Caribbean Entertainment

...get their songs recognized, accepted, played on the international soca scene...
and when i say played i mean played in frequent rotation by dj's and radio stations notmmater what island they are affiliated and associated with....

here in toronto it is so so difficult to here my favorite tune for the year from any of these islands on a regular basis...how do we get these songs played regularly like the dead or alives, fly's waves, madder than dat's of the world...

why is it i have to go to an antiguan fete to here antiguan music...in which i also here regular play of thini music as well...why is is i cant go to a fete where an trini dj' is plying and here a significant number of tunes from these islands...what is it???
i know people say that the dj's and radio stations dont have access to the material...ok but why dont the ones that do play them???
i know for a fact antiguan artists give alot of cd's to big dj's up here...yet the music is not played...what is it!!!
is it that they think that their man patrons would not react to the tunes??? is it they dont care for the tune...all off them???
is it they feel that the tunes are not good enough...what is it!!!

and what can thes islands do to get their music played for people to hear them....

do we have to resort to payola??? what??

nothing pi$$es me off more than when i go to a fete and the dj's playing the same songs 5 6 7 times a night...and i cant here one small islnand tune not even once....madder than dat all 20 times a night and i cant get go so by el a kru even once....i aint talking bout some little bassment dj's...im talking dr.j, playhouse, soca monarchs the so called big dj's....
the one exeption being blackberry sound crew...

i really dont know how it is in NY and miami and the rest of those places...

what can these artists do different to have these so-called soca dj's recognize their music and play them regularly....all these tunes are huge tunes in their respective islands and surrounding islands...what is it that the artists/bands are doing wrong or not doing at all that is preventing these big influencial dj's and radio stations not to play their music on a regular basis so the people can here and get used to them???

also what is it like in the other citys, new york, miami, dc, etc....is their a lack of soca diversity as well when it comes to what the big dj's and radio stations play on a regular basis???

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DEFENDING "SMALL ISAND MUSIC" FROM THE BIAS, PREJUDICE, OVER-PATRIOTIC AND RACIST SOUTHERNERS.

First and formeost, a lot of these artists need to get there acts together. Production wise some are sub par. Promotion wise they again need to get their acts together. I can name names of bands but I won't. Third, the Artists neeed to approach the Government for Intervention regarding rotation on their local respective stations. We are talking about Global Marketing and needs to start at home.

I have more but I want to see if anyone else has any ideas before I continue.

Sometimes the amount of music is overwhelming. Try to highlight what the strongest songs are(if the first 3 songs are weak, as mean as it may sound, the person may just assume the whole cd is crap). Distribution sucks for most places & even if they hand the cd to a dj, they should really try to go out of their way to make an impression on who they are & that they are serious about their music(which if they are, production should be good). It costs money to produce cd's...but if they expect something to come out of it, it's important(just like giving a proposal to a company for sponsorship), that it's presented in a way that will make people want to play the music.

Some artistes act bigger than who they are...Maybe they are popular at home...but come across in a cocky way elsewhere & see how far you get. It's a combination of factors...but you can't just rely on a few dj's in one area(ie. just NY & Toronto) either.

That is definitely a good idea. If I start on a cd and the frist few tracks are horrible, it puts a bad impression. I don't think there is any thing wrong with putting your top three as tracks 1,2,3..

i agree their are alot of them who's production is just not up to par...yes...they need to get it together...
but what about those acts that are way above par...WCK falmes are way above par dont you think...at least up to par with those acts who do get regular air play...why dont flames and WCK get even half that airplay that a destra or sherwhayne or bunjie would get???
the government thing is a BIG one...i agree 100%...goverments dont see their islands music to be a valuable asset to their county for some reason...and dont implament initatives to further the exposure of the islands music...thats is so true!!!

promotion and adiquate marketing is another thing i agree with...i will name a name if you wont...el a kru....they have a huge and very valuable asset in their hands and wont use her adiquatly...ms. tansania sabastian aka tizzy...

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DEFENDING "SMALL ISAND MUSIC" FROM THE BIAS, PREJUDICE, OVER-PATRIOTIC AND RACIST SOUTHERNERS.

i agree wid bejie with this rummy....again el a kru comes to mind....about 2 years ago they had a song wah you wan me do with tizzy snging lead...the song is one of the bet songs i have heard from el a kru..arragment wise, vocal wise, recording wse everything...yet the song went absoulutly no where...what a waste of a song...the same thing with last years song by byke, go so, wikked song...as good as any song that came out of any island laste year and this...yet where is it...are you hearing it played...no...the thin is these artists have to find a way to get them selves expoed without puttin all their hope on weather thei break into the trinidad market...most of the songs from antigua that i hear being played on a regular basis here in tornto are songs that trinidad accepted and allowed to buss in their scene during their carnival...more gyal by wanskie is a prime example...i will not metion the flames songs by onika bostic..cuase her being a trini had alot to do with those tunes bussing the trini market...but i will mention "i command you" which was not sang by onika and bussed in trinidad!!!

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DEFENDING "SMALL ISAND MUSIC" FROM THE BIAS, PREJUDICE, OVER-PATRIOTIC AND RACIST SOUTHERNERS.

you know what is funny...i notice the same people who run come into other threads i start to cuss bash and ridicule me...have nothing to say in a constructive post like this...all a dem are no where to be found....i guess the only knoweldge some people hve up in here is "how to defend trinidad from the big bad stargate"...thats the limit of their expertise!!!
just had to pint that out!!!

where is bake and shark, originalrudeboy, brownskintrini, rotiking and all the others who were quick to jump up and cuss stagate in a previous post...come on guys lends up you expertise on this subject...shear your wealth of knowledge of the soca world buisness!!!

i am waiting

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DEFENDING "SMALL ISAND MUSIC" FROM THE BIAS, PREJUDICE, OVER-PATRIOTIC AND RACIST SOUTHERNERS.

don't remember when i cuss you for real???...but as to your point you know what you talking about it seem. I think Trini's are overpatriotic and making sure that 'we' artists buss, first and foremost. Plus if you check the soca scene in Trinidad now, it's bere artist...lots and lots want to jump on the soca train...there are over 500 songs every carnival, so it seems Trinidad makes sure that their 20 favorites make it ( and their 20 always include Rupee and for some reason Timmy and an Onika song, but we'll see next year how flames do without her (God take care of her soul)).
Outside of Trinidad...I don't know bout Toronto, but when I go to fete, first of all I want to hear the Top Trini Road marches and fete tunes, then I want to hear how my 20 favorites did the past year....then after that I want to hear how the non-favorite Trini artists did, then I down the line I want to hear how the big artists from the "other islands" did...and this may be how a fete crowd things.

But an answer could be: Make and send quality videos to synergy...there's only ike 15 videos that seem to be played during carnival over and over and over. That's the only reason I heard of Tizzy, cuz she had some song with Treason that was played a billion times...



Are these artists ever in Trinidad?

well if promoters dont invite these artists to proform in trinidad what you want dem to do???

anyways respect for your answer...i have a question...is it only if a non trini artists buss through in the trini soca market is only when you will pay attention to them??

i guess i am coming from the toronto perspective...it is just very very fustratiog here...when you live in a city with a very diverse caribbean comunity yet the soca that is played at the major fetes doesnt reflet the diverse make up at all...a mean i could undertsand it i was living in a city with pure trinis and it commin like little port of spain...but thats not the case here is toronto..i understand the trinis are gonna be the majority yes...and that trini soca is gonna be played the majority of the time.....but the level of airplay that big antigua songs..th big domanica songs...the big st. kitts songs...the big V.I songs get as it relate to the representation of people form these islands at fete is severly low..in some cases totally non existent..i would even have to put st. vincent and grenada in their as well
...the music that is played at fete with people from these islands attending is still no reflective of their existence at thses fetes...it is still 99% trini...if it was even 60% trini ans 40% everbody else trinidad will still get the majority...but like 60% is not enough for some people...dem have to have all or nothing...in a 1 hour spand i can luiteraly stanbd up and count all the non-trini songs that get played at these events...thats is ridiculous..i should even be able to conut..i should even remember what played and when becuase it should be so much...but this is never the case.....this is in toronto mind you..i ant talki bout no where else!!!

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DEFENDING "SMALL ISAND MUSIC" FROM THE BIAS, PREJUDICE, OVER-PATRIOTIC AND RACIST SOUTHERNERS.

Artists need to make it happen....however they do that in that industry, by connections, or knowing the hustle...obviously they don't know the hustle right now....i see making videos a good start...

let's see...rupee buss because you couldnt' stop JUMP, but b4 that it took a collaborative effort and phenomenal music by bajans to make their presence known in trinidad, when they had the bajan invasion......and the took off after that...maybe the artists should follow whatever formula the bajans had...

but the pond in a fete is oh so small...and if it's a Trini dj, then they gonna cater to what Trinis' want to hear, which is usually ( actually it's usually reggae but that's another story) Trini soca

No it's not only when a tune buss in trini that i pay attention to them...for some reason general pepe didn't buss last year but i'm waitin for him to buss next year...internet radio makes it easy to see who doin what on an international level.

Another thing...for those w/ emails, keeping in contact w/ promoters & dj's would be helpful (or make phone calls). When people follow up, it keeps people from not forgetting to check the music in case they may have put it aside.

big up WCK: either in either u out

How about this-associate by collaboration with a well known soca artist, e.g a duet featuring Bunji or Machel or Allison etc.

El A Kru already started on that path and they are making some headway with that method. They have stepped up there game but there is more work to be done. They have done colabs with Bunji and Peter C.. Another example is Da Bhann has also done the same with Ronnie Macintosh. So it does help to get you introduced to other markets.

Question...Where are most of the dj's from that play on those stations...where are the owners of those stations from and funding for such stations comes from where? Maybe more focus needs to be put into having functions where you have only those bands playing....What people from those places could do is invite persons outside the caribbean culture to those functions...even a total stranger...bring them along it might sound weak but you never know which executive from ur office has contacts with whom...so its a start...forget about the trini dj's and trini bands bajan bands popularity cause that will always be there and they deserve it cause they worked for it but new ideas are needed