IICD supported project: Caribbeat

Countries: Jamaica [JM]

Summary

The Caribbean music industry is grossly underdeveloped because most of the region's music producers operate through micro enterprises that are simply not up to the task of promoting local artistes and their music internationally. Consequently, Caribbean artists usually resort to the major mainstream record labels in North America and Europe for international exposure, even though these record labels often only produce their music as an occasional sideline. Caribbeat Entertainment Limited is a private, limited liability company set up in Jamaica in 1999 specifically to promote, distribute and represent Caribbean artistes and music producers using the latest ICT applications, particularly e-commerce and the Internet. Within six years it plans to develop and expand the Caribbean music industry to its full international potential. Its timing is excellent for two reasons: (1) the global demand for Caribbean music is set to rocket in the next five years; and, (2) Jamaica has just introduced a number of favourable tax and investment incentives for the entertainment industry.

Introduction

Objectives

Caribbeat aims to become the exclusive world leader in producing, promoting and distributing the Caribbean's many different music genres and intends to become the main Caribbean music portal with sites for the online retailing of CDs, digital downloading of recorded music, and Internet radio. It will also offer other services such as a recording studio and performance bookings and artiste and label promotions. It will: (1) promote and increase the volume and variety of its music products and services to reflect the entire spectrum of English, Spanish and French Caribbean music genres within the first six months of the project; (2) promote its music products and services primarily through Caribeatradio.com to in excess of 1 million monthly by the end of the first year of its expansion programme and improve the responsiveness of its sites to customer enquiries; and, (3) improve customer services to ensure delivery and/or confirmation to clients within 14 days of receiving orders. By the end of the sixth year profits are expected to reach the 380,000 US dollar mark.

Planned outputs

The expanded activities of Caribbeat will give a large group of Caribbean artistes, musicians and producers unprecedented exposure in the global market. Its key activities will include the following: recording and producing masters; acquiring rights in masters through licensing; acquiring finished CDs for marketing; manufacturing finished CDs on contract with third parties; distributing CDs and vinyl records to wholesalers and retailers; promoting and distributing CDs through hotels, cruise lines and in-flight magazines; and, setting up an on-line retail system for the purchase of CDs. It will provide music industry consultancy services to Caribbean artistes and producers for performance and recording studio bookings and will also produce and present Internet radio programmes and live concerts to promote the recorded music marketed by the company.

Development Impacts

Caribbeat will create a dynamic, professional network for all those involved in the Caribbean music industry in order to initiate collaborative ventures and identify cooperative marketing and distribution strategies. Strategic alliances with like-minded organizations such as Caribbean Music Expo (CME) and sectors such as the IT and tourism industries will also be forged. This will benefit the region's economy and boost the international exposure of local artistes and producers. The network will be a vehicle for knowledge sharing to improve its members' skills and (technical) competences. The wide range of activities planned by Caribbeat will also produce heightened (music) product diversification and increase the contribution of music industry revenues to the Gross National Product (GNP) of Caribbean countries. As the only international promoter to focus exclusively on Caribbean music, Caribbeat will bring many Caribbean music genres to a global audience for the first time, thus stimulating worldwide interest in and awareness of the Caribbean's rich musical heritage. Many new jobs will be created in the entertainment, IT, media and tourist sectors and the region's share in the global market for entertainment goods and services will also expand.

Management and organisation

Caribbeat is a private, limited liability company based in Jamaica. Its Board of Directors includes Lloyd Stanbury; a Jamaican entertainment attorney with extensive legal and music business management expertise, Janet Stanbury and Eric Douglas. Mr Stanbury founded the company and heads its 10-member management team while Mr Claude Walker manages Caribbeat's finance and administration. Before joining Caribbeat, Mr Walker acted as the accountant for Solid Agency Limited; one of the leading performance booking agencies in the Caribbean. Other staff members include a webmaster, a content producer, an administrative assistant (in Miami) and a shipping/distribution clerk. Caribbeat's marketing and promotion activities have been outsourced to a specialised on-line marketing company in Miami. Efforts are still underway to improve Caribbeat's marketing, sales and web managing activities.

Market and finance

The world market for recorded music in general and Caribbean music in particular grows each year. Latin music sales alone increased by 25% in 1997. The exponential growth of online sales, spurred on by the widespread use of the Internet and computers, has also boosted music sales over the last few years with profits of 2.6 billion US dollars projected for 2003. Caribbeat is unique: It is the only company to specialise exclusively in Caribbean music. The bulk of its revenue will come from on-line CD sales. Revenues will also come from its production, distribution and marketing services for artistes and record producers. Local radio and television stations, hotels, cruise lines, and music distributors will all benefit from Caribbeat's global campaign. In addition, Caribbeat's performance and studio booking facilities will attract local promoters, festival organisers, venue operators, production companies, artiste managers and record labels. The global nature of the company also makes it an attractive advertising vehicle for corporations wishing to target Caribbeat's expanding international market of 18-45 year olds.

Project Owner : Caribbeat Music Distribution Ltd., Mr Lloyd Stanbury, Executive Director, 6 A Worthington Terrace, Kingston 5, Jamaica. Tel.: +1-876-9294089, Fax: +1-876-9299688. Email: info@caribbeat.com.jm, www.caribbeat.com.jm/

Project Partners : The project has two main partners: Jamaica's National Commission on Science and Technology (NCST) based in Kingston, Jamaica and the International Institute for Communication for Development (IICD) in The Hague, the Netherlands.

Project Contact : IICD