Roots Archives Forum

According to this article vinyl production in Jamaica is at an all time low, and only caters for foreign markets. This article kind of depressed me, but doesn't surprise me.

http://arts.guardian.co.uk/filmandmusic ... 32,00.html

Who else here still buys Dancehall on vinyl?

why does it depress you? Vinyl is an outdated medium, and vinyl in the foreign reggae market is strictly for nostalgia purposes.
I buy vinyl myself (not much dancehall though), but only because there are a lot of things you can't find on cd, for example versions and extended versions. I would prefer if everything was digitalised.

That's interesting as music in general (I hasten to add I am not talking about reggae here) seems to be moving back towards vinyl.
Pretty sure I read somewhere that vinyl is the fastest growing format nowdays. Mind you, it had all but died out so any small amount of growth will be seen as a massive percentage increase!

As an example of this I was in the Rough Trade shop near Brick Lane yesterday and it absolutely teeming with vinyl of every genre. Even HMV on Tottenham Court Road has a vinyl *department* now which it definitely didn't have not that long ago.

Maybe reggae dancehall will follow a similar trend. Not good new in the short term obviously.

Interesting article.

I noted this and wondered if the producers are finally getting their just rewards for the years of not paying artists properly?

"But in Jamaica, it's not the artists who are suffering.
It is, in fact, the producers who are finding themselves cut out of reggae's economic loop."

Which goes some way to proving that the internet, the CDR and downloads really can help put the artist in control of the product.

The problem is that with so many people not paying for their music in any shape or form, is there actually anything left to control. Or are the artists finding themselves suddenly empowered and yet still frustratingly unable to make a crust from their work?

Red Eyes wrote:why does it depress you?

Because I like vinyl, yes for nostalgic reasons, and aesthetic reasons. For me liking Reggae was never purely about the sounds, it's about imagery, design, sound system culture, history etc.

I liked the fact that Jamaica bucked the trend and didn't toss away vinyl in the eighties. Realistically I suppose the biggest selling stuff back then was already sound system tapes, then Cds, so I guess the process just took longer.

Red Eyes wrote:...vinyl in the foreign reggae market is strictly for nostalgia purposes.

As there appear to be a lot of young Roots Archive users buying vinyl I don't see that as being true.

Red Eyes wrote:I would prefer if everything was digitalised.

Aaaaaaaaargh!!!!

What a horrible thought...

leggo rocker wrote: "But in Jamaica, it's not the artists who are suffering.
It is, in fact, the producers who are finding themselves cut out of reggae's economic loop."

Which goes some way to proving that the internet, the CDR and downloads really can help put the artist in control of the product.

I hope this is true, but artists like a system to work without and people to cater for their needs, they aren't generally entrepreneurial or proactive, though in Jamaica you have to be more proactive just to get by.

6anbatte wrote: Pretty sure I read somewhere that vinyl is the fastest growing format nowdays. Mind you, it had all but died out so any small amount of growth will be seen as a massive percentage increase!

I think this is in the indie rock sector where people listen to there music on MP3 and also buy 7" vinyl because they like it as a physical object. I don't think retailers make any money from them and I bet the bands don't.

Maxi Trojan wrote:I think this is in the indie rock sector where people listen to there music on MP3 and also buy 7" vinyl because they like it as a physical object. I don't think retailers make any money from them and I bet the bands don't.

I must admit I don't know the source of that info I quoted or whether it was referring to a specific vinyl format, but the vinyl I was referring to in the Rough Trade shop was albums.

Also it wasn't idie bands it was all genres. You are probably right though as I do have a tendency to be the eternal optimist!