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Music Matters: The Caribbean Edition

Music Podcasts

Music business conversations with hosts Laura Dowrich-Phillips and Nigel A. Campbell focused on the Caribbean.

Location:

Trinidad and Tobago

Description:

Music business conversations with hosts Laura Dowrich-Phillips and Nigel A. Campbell focused on the Caribbean.

Language:

English


Episodes

Episode 45: Investing In Caribbean-based Music Festivals

8/1/2023
Laura and Nigel host a panel at the MusicTT RVRB X Conference in Trinidad on Festivals as the new investment opportunities for the regional music industry, with Dr. Jo-Anne Tull from Barbados and Sobers Esprit from Dominica. They speak on the development and business opportunities for growth and data capture of the live music festival industry, with a goal of finding a workable template for effective private and public sector investment.

Duration:00:41:58

Episode 44: Globalisation and Commercialisation of Caribbean Music

11/29/2022
Laura and Nigel welcome UK-born Barbadian emeritus professor of Recording Industry, author and consultant Mike Alleyne to the podcast as he discusses the efforts and "adjustments" made by the global the recording industry to successfully market indigenous Caribbean music and artistes; Bob Marley, Rihanna, and more.

Duration:01:14:04

Episode 43: Valuing Caribbean Music: The Jamaica Example

11/4/2022
Laura and Nigel have a conversation with Donovan Watkis of World Music Views about how his push to chart and certify Jamaican music's global sales and streams is converting cultural capital into financial capital. His strong entrepreneurial spirit comes through as he pursues the task of putting dancehall and reggae music on a level playing field within the global music streaming ecosystem, to accurately identify its value.

Duration:00:58:25

Episode 42: Memoir, Management, Machel Montano

8/12/2022
Laura and Nigel have a conversation with Elizabeth Lady Montano, mother of Caribbean music superstar, Machel Montano, and author of his new coffee-table memoir/biography King of Soca. Published to coincide with the 40th anniversary of his professional career, Lady speaks her truth about Machel, she being the ultimate insider, the former manager, and the archiver of more than forty years of memories.

Duration:01:09:08

Episode 41: The Post-Pandemic Future of Caribbean Festivals and Music

8/4/2022
Laura and Nigel have a conversation where they ponder the future of the Caribbean music industry after the disruption of the two-year COVID-19 pandemic. The evolution of music festivals and Carnivals, the new economy of music for new and legacy artists, the coming-of-age new audiences in and outside the islands.

Duration:00:51:28

Episode 40: Breaking Caribbean Music in America: What Needs to be Done?

5/16/2022
Laura and Nigel speak with Caribbean-American music executive Nolan Baynes on the ins and outs of the modern US music industry, as he lays out what needs to be done by Caribbean artists and music business to get a significant space in that market. They analyse a few case studies of Caribbean music entrepreneurship and creativity.

Duration:01:16:13

Episode 39: Caribbean Music Across the Pond: A Conversation with Seani B

3/8/2022
Laura and Nigel speak with BBC Radio 1Xtra DJ and selector Seani B about his prominent role in putting Caribbean music on the radio in the UK and beyond, and on global playlists. Bashment party vibes from the Caribbean and beyond.

Duration:01:18:28

Episode 38: Hard Truths: A Conversation on soca with Jaiga TC

11/30/2021
Laura And Nigel speak with soca entrepreneur and facilitator, Terron Callender, JAIGA TC, on the way forward for the music genre. This TV producer, radio announcer and hit soca writer and artiste, among his other qualifications, gets real on the possibilities of soca in the global music industry highlighting pluses and pitfalls.

Duration:01:11:14

Episode 37: A new season, a new beginning for the Caribbean music industry

11/13/2021
Laura and Nigel begin the fourth season of the podcast with a conversation on the outlook and some of the recent happenings within the Caribbean music industry after 20 months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Duration:00:47:31

Episode 36: Soca begins GRAMMY Best Global Performance contention

7/7/2021
Laura and Nigel speak with soca producer Kasey Phillips and former Grammy Awards genre manager Marlon Fuentes about the clear opportunities towards recognition of the genre within the Recording Academy by their facilitation of the soca producers' significant membership drive in 2021. This first step is a real world initiative that can move the needle on Caribbean music's growth in a rebranded World music category.

Duration:01:06:48

Episode 35: Licensing and global collaborations, Braveboy to the World

6/24/2021
Laura and Nigel speak to Trinidad and Tobago EDM andhip hop artist and songwriter Braveboy about his many unique collaborations with global artistes from Albania to Taiwan, and almost everywhere in between. Those connections have produced music licensing deals that are more important in a world recovering from a pandemic. Lessons learned, advice shared in this wide ranging conversation about Caribbean possibilities in the music world.

Duration:01:16:03

Episode 34: What's Chrending? A Music business Conversation with Fay-Ann Lyons Alvarez

4/23/2021
Laura and Nigel chat with soca star and music entrepreneur, Fay-Ann Lyons Alvarez on her music career, live and recorded, during the pandemic and her move into streaming music platform development with the launch of her new service, Chrending, and moves to expand Caribbean music.

Duration:01:03:42

Episode 33: Digital Innovation in the Caribbean Music Industry

4/8/2021
Laura and Nigel have a conversation on the implications of the small steps in innovation happening in the digital music space of the Caribbean music industry. As the pandemic continues with the future dependent on outside forces, Caribbean music creators and business people have to move to the leading edge of the innovation curve to remain relevant. With the proliferation of digital solutions existing, we have to pivot the business models to our situation in the islands.

Duration:01:00:27

Episode 32: The Role of Video in the Promotion of Soca Music

3/21/2021
Laura and Nigel chat with Navindra Harbukhan of NH Productions TT on the role of video in the promotion of soca music. He gives a masterclass on how video can break this music to the world. He gives a masterclass on how video can break this music to the world. He says, "...we are at the point where video is king. If you are an artiste, and you do not have a video for your song, you are doing music wrong." BOOM!

Duration:00:50:50

Episode 31: Caribbean Music Industry Conversations

12/21/2020
Laura and Nigel speak with Jamaican music industry lawyer and entrepreneur, Lloyd Stanbury on the Jamaican and wider Caribbean industry, looking forward, post-COVID-19. Utilizing his role as co-founder of IRIE-FM and one person responsible for the establishment of the Caribbean Music Expo and many music organizations on the island, he provides an effective overview of where that island's industry went, is going and has to go.

Duration:00:56:23

Episode 30: A Conversation with Destra Garcia

12/15/2020
Laura and Nigel continue in The Soca Sessions with a fun-filled yet open chat with the Queen of Bacchanal, soca star Destra Garcia on her career and how she has been able to sustain her brand for more than two decades and through the COVID-19 pandemic. The business of soca is revealed as Destra talks about longevity with innovation, albums and streams, media dominance, contracts and career.

Duration:00:42:03

Episode 29: A Conversation with Kerwin Du Bois

11/7/2020
Laura and Nigel continue in The Soca Sessions with an intriguing chat with Toronto-based singer, composer and producer Kerwin Du Bois on his role in crafting a new crop of soca entrepreneurs. He also delves into the nitty-gritty of the competitive soca industry and places front and centre the role of the consumer in making soca music a global phenomenon beyond Carnival.

Duration:00:56:42

Episode 28: Soca Sessions with Erphaan Alves

10/16/2020
Laura and Nigel chat with Trinidadian soca artiste, Erphaan Alves, who for the past five years, has championed the "No Seasons" campaign, an initiative designed to encourage soca artistes to release music all year round, instead of for a Carnival season. With the COVID-19 pandemic forcing artistes to see their product outside the realm of festivals and Carnivals, it seems that his is an idea whose time has come.

Duration:00:38:25

Episode 27: Soca Sessions with Problem Child

10/4/2020
Laura and Nigel chat with St. Vincent-born, US-based soca performer and prolific composer, Problem Child about the business of soca in this time when the the 2020 Carnivals were cancelled and the possibility that next year's may be on hold. Is soca without Carnivals affecting the proliferation of the music? Problem Child has some answers.

Duration:00:35:06

Episode 26: A Conversation with Pat Meschino

9/10/2020
Laura and Nigel speak to Billboard magazine writer, Pat Meschino, about the coverage of Caribbean music in the US and foreign print and editorial media. The mechanics of pitching stories to publications, and the importance of reliable data on artists and their music are explored for a Caribbean context of how to get the story of Island music into the consciousness of wider audiences globally.

Duration:00:43:16