C continued from previous page
A
R
I
B
B
E
A
N
C
R
E
A
T
I
V
E
S
In the second instance, even though the regional CMOs have generally experienced tremendous growth in collections, this growth has not been in favour of regional rights-owners but rather their international counterparts. This is because most of the music performed outside of national carnival seasons is international in origin with low levels of local content on radio, television and cable. Moreover, at least in Barbados, there has been the negative impact of the economic climate with the closure of nightclubs and the decrease of live music in other premises such as hotels. Most live events outside of the Crop Over carnival feature international music and on average, at least 70% of royalties collected outside of Crop Over, are exported. Finally, in spite of an export thrust, an analysis of imported royalties generally, shows that there has actually been a drop. In the case of Barbados, 2011 collections from overseas were about one-quarter of those in 2008 and prior years. This drop has also been experienced with regional markets although not as steep. Artists complain that there are fewer international opportunities and the number of engagements has diminished considerably. It is unclear why the market is declining but it appears that the lack of international “hit” songs has had a negative impact. Taking all the above into consideration, the assumptions made have been debunked and it can easily be concluded that the Caribbean music industry is lagging in terms of global trends. It is also possible to conclude that the strategies thus far employed have been unsuccessful to the extent that there seems to be a regression. Perhaps, this is because as we focus on export strategies, we have failed to address fundamental issues in our domestic market, which affect development. It is recommended that greater attention needs to be placed on securing greater entry in the digital economy by rights-owners and in particular working with them to allow for the facilitation of the clearance of rights and overcoming the challenges of fragmentation. The issue of the space afforded to local content needs to be addresses as a matter of priority. Recognising that being net exporters of royalty might serve to discentivise locals, we need to determine how we will position local content, even though it is desirable to allow for the performance of music from around the world. This will also serve to discourage cultural hegemony and minimise the loss of foreign exchange reserves. The ?nal and perhaps the most dif?cult issue to address is that of successful international market entry. While there has been technical and ?nancial support offered to music creators to assist with this objective, the requisite level of export-readiness has not been yet attained. This can however be accomplished by a greater focus on the development of fundamental skills such as song-writing, publishing and marketing
8
www.creativeindustriesexchange.com
Volume 4: July - September 2012