Source: Erasmus Williams
BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS – A call has been made for Caribbean people to support Caribbean artistes, with the argument that greater public backing is critical to the genre’s growth.
That call has come from Bajan soca artiste Edwin Yearwood at a news conference during the just-concluded 28th edition of the St Kitts Music Festival.
According to Brent Pinheiro in an article carried in the Trinidad Guardian, Yearwood lamented the low album sales Caribbean artistes continue to experience despite the region’s population.
“Numbers matter in many ways, especially music sales. To me, it’s almost as if some of us are afraid to make Machel or Voice a millionaire,” he said.
“We’ve been around for a long time, and there’s no way that Machel Montano shouldn’t have had two or three million sales.”
Yearwood argued that greater support for Caribbean artistes would make soca harder to ignore, particularly by organisations such as the Recording Academy, which oversees the Grammy Awards.
Soca star Machel Montano agreed, saying discussions about creating a dedicated Grammy category for soca have been ongoing, but success depends on understanding how the system works.
He said people within the genre need to become members of the Recording Academy and participate in the voting process.
The Grammys do not currently have a dedicated soca category. Instead, soca artistes compete in the Best Global Music category.
Montano also stressed the importance of audience growth and streaming numbers in helping the genre gain greater recognition.
“If we watch over the years, just with the introduction of streaming like Spotify and YouTube, soca music has grown in its potential to reach numbers. There have been more songs on YouTube hitting a million views in less and less time. So it means that we are being consumed more. Spotify, Apple Music, those things will all contribute. I think we just have to keep on the trajectory.”
Montano performed alongside several soca stars at the festival, including Voice, V’ghn, Edwin Yearwood and Krosfyah, and Brandon.
Thousands of patrons attended the three-day event at Warner Park Sporting Complex in Basseterre.