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Spotlight on Rihanna
Rihanna and the Barbados Music Industry
Mike Alleyne Professor, Department of Recording Industry Middle Tennessee State University In a 2009 Billboard magazine article, prophetically titled “Replicating Rihanna”, Patricia Meschino states that Barbados is now seen as an active site for sourcing globally marketable artists in the Urban R&B mold. Recent major label signings have demonstrated that the ‘localized global’ model is likely to persist. Within the past few years, Sturken/Rogers Productions (SRP) has also signed Hal Linton, Shontelle, and Vita Chambers to develop the acts in conjunction with Universal/ Motown which is releasing the music from these Barbadian artists. Even performers not associated with SRP - such as Livvi Franc signed to Jive/Sony and also Capitol Records signing Jaicko/J-Co - ?t a template which may honestly re?ect the artist’s musical in?uences but which also effectively distances them from the Caribbean, dislocating any relevant Barbadian creative contexts. All of these major label signings have in fact had to physically relocate to further their careers, and their geographical repositioning is distinctly culturally metaphoric. The sound of cultural neutrality has become the global music business norm for the newlyemergent artists in question, and this should be a stark warning to all concerned with issues of identity and representation, and the frameworks within which international recording industry commerce occurs. The same historical moment within which little-known artists from Barbados have been catapulted into the major label spotlight also contains the threat of an ominous digital cloning whereby replication negates innovation. In the realm ??\??[???[Y\??X[ ?X[] K?Z[??x?&\??? ??Y?[?\? ?[\? XZ?? ???Z[[???Y\???\? \?[?[H????\???H?Y
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