Diasporic Entrepreneurship in the Caribbean - Firm Profiles.pdf Vol 2 | Page 39

Creative/Cultural Firms

Location:
VP Records label services are based on New
York, while the Kingston, Jamaica office
deals with artists and repertoire. Florida
is optimized as a fulfillment center and for
major marketing.
Employment:
VP Records currently employs 50 persons.
Target Market:
The three core markets are the Caribbean,
Caribbean diaspora, and friends of the
Caribbean, followed by reggae networks and
American friends of Jamaica. The majority of
the consumers of VP’s products are 25 years
and older.

VP Records further expressed the influence
of the Diaspora by noting Tessanne Chin’s
win on the show “The Voice” in 2013. While
individuals living within the Caribbean could
not vote due to The Voice’s official rules,
journalist, Richard Johnson, noted that “with
so many Jamaican and Caribbean nationals
living in the United States, Tessanne would
have had adequate support given the large
Caribbean, particularly Jamaican Diaspora
within the United States.”28

28 http://www.mtviggy.com/lists/11-reasons-why-were-obsessed-withthe-voices-tessanne-chin/

Diasporic Analysis:
The Caribbean market still has a preference
for physical products like CDs and DVD’s.
However, with the digital evolution, the
customer based has been expanding to
younger audiences, who are more au fait with
current technology. As a result of this new
orientation, iTunes has become a key market,
widening the scope for digital consumption,
thereby exposing products to a mass market.
VP Records is still expanding, as the company
is licensing reggae bands from Japan, New
Zealand, Brazil, Hawaii, and Mexico.
The influence of the diaspora was depicted
recently when Bunji Garlin, a Trinidadian
soca artiste, topped VIP, a South Korean
band, in MTV’s “song of the year” award
in 2013. In a comment made by MTV, the
US network outlined that Bunji Garlin’s
track “Differentology” demonstrated that
soca did not have to be confined to Trinidad
and Tobago, or to Caribbean communities
around the world; but that it has worldwide
infectiousness that fits right in with the
domination of electronic dance music.27

27 MTV Iggy. “Song of the Year.” . http://www.mtviggy.com/blog-posts/
song-of-the-year-runoff-vikings-vs-vips/ (accessed April 2, 2014).

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