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TORONTO, Canada CMC – A contest aimed at increasing the visibility of the Jamaican music, reggae, is being planned for Canada.
“The goal of the Reggae Song Contest is to contribute to increasing the visibility of reggae and its share of the North American music market,” said Mark Lee, a principal of Toronto-based, Lee Media Associates.
Lloyd Stanbury
He said the contest will draw entries only from unsigned artists from North America and the Caribbean, as well as Central and South American submissions in English.
“As soon as we’ve sorted out partnerships and sponsors, we’ll be ready to roll and that should not be difficult because, ironically, it is reggae that some of the major international brands, from cars to electronics manufacturers, are using to sell their products.”
Lee said the plan was started in response to reports from the June 2014 Sierra Nevada World Music Festival held in Boonville, California, where “a reggae music business panel discussion was staged in response to the concerns of performers, music producers, managers, promoters and fans regarding the decline in reggae music business activity and revenues within the North American music market.”
Since then, entertainment and cultural industries specialist and attorney at law, Lloyd Stanbury, a presenter on the panel, has launched the Facebook page, Reggae Business Network of North America (RBN), to galvanize those in music and allied businesses to initiate action.
“Taking my cue from being drafted into the RBN, this method to implement the Reggae Song Contest was chosen based on the dominant influence of the Internet in entertainment and business, across almost all age demographics, and the popularity of similar programs in traditional television media.”
The Contest will be run over a period of four months with promotional activity through social and traditional media to attract a maximum of 200 unsigned entrants with no music industry contracts.
He said each must submit one original song in video format to be uploaded to www.TheHotSteppers.com, which will be the community web site for viewing live streaming packages and voting on the finalists after official judging whittles down the entries.
“The www.TheHotSteppers.com‘s technical functions are in place and being fine tuned and in the interim, before it is made fully public, visitors can go there and sign up to receive newsletter updates on the launch of the Reggae Song Contest,” Lee added.
