Wal-Mart…where lower to middle class consumers like my currently unemployed self go to shop. While the wife was gathering together the necessary goodies, I wandered over to the music aisle in morbid curiosity to check out the REGGAE selection. Only one single CD of one single REGGAE artist was stocked. Guess who?
Of course, that one lonely disc was a ROBERT NESTA MARLEY release.
Guess which title? LEGEND of course silly, that title is only the biggest seller in REGGAE’S 40 plus year history.
Wal-Mart doesn’t fuss around with small potatoes like the TROJAN record label. So that leaves only major label moguls Island/Universal for your Marley choice. Wal-Mart was kind enough to make up your mind for you.
I wasn’t shocked, but I wasn’t happy either. Part of me loves being considered an insignificant slice in the demographic pie. As someone who beats his eardrum with Reggae Dancehall I feel like I belong to a secret society.
But is that attitude profitable for “our” music’s vitality? I mean the health of REGGAE music is at stake here.
No serious money coming in means no reinvesting. Why produce new product if the old stuff is getting’ stale? No waiting fans with fists full of cash to spend means no new REGGAE releases.
Sure REGGAE will always exist in JAMAICAN ghetto YARDS and local DANCEHALLS but am I gonna hear the next generation of stars way up here in North America? Hell no! No JAMAICAN businessman is about to push supply where there is no demand. Which means a slow death.
So as long as ROBERT NESTA MARLEY’S LEGEND continues to shift astronomical numbers, new fans will come to the music. Some will stick around for more. Brave souls will seek out the names we take for granted. Remember they have no clue as to who an AUGUSTUS PABLO or a SIZZLA KALONJI is yet. Give ‘em time though. Ganja may not be habit forming but REGGAE is downright addictive.
My only fear is that “our” beloved music will reach too huge a listening audience. Which is initially a good thing fiscally. But the backlash will be critically devastating. There will be the usual media over saturation. The music will be diluted with every POP influence to the very inch of its authenticity. “Yeh Mon!”
And then quietly disappear as last year’s fad.
Then my only choice will be the thousands of faceless R ‘n’ B and country twang discs that line their shelves. And I like to think for myself. Not to completely diss Wal-Mart, my wife scored some great deals on everyday items.
