Global Reggae Charts - Issue #11 / March 2018

global reggae charts
feature
analogue predecessor. Few dancehall artists became
stars outside the scene, but many managed to make
a living by creating a steady supply of music. Just
look at Sizzla’s catalog. The BCA of the internet age
usually has a small and effective support structure
but nothing like a major label. Instead, revenue is generated
from streaming on digital platforms, self-distributed
records (e.g. via Bandcamp), merchandise
sales, and live shows.
The Sustained Internet Sensation: This is the career
path of the lucky artist who had a breakthrough song
on the web and turned it into a sustained career. I
was surprised to find that PSY - the Korean producer
whose Gangnam Style became a global internet
phenomenon can be regarded as a prototypical viral
hit - has several songs in the hundred million views
region, some of them not even a year old. Apparently
he managed to build a career upon his internet hit.
Congratulations!
But we don’t have to go to K-Pop to find examples
for that career arc. We can stay much closer to home
and look at Major Lazer. The Diplo-founded project is
arguably a dancehall ting but its popularity reached
far beyond typical genre limits. From early on, the
project made excellent use of viral phenomena, for
instance when, in 2011, they shot the Original Don
video as a tribute to the Jian Sword Dancing viral
video. Two years later, Bubble Butt turned into a viral
hit in its own right and another two years later we of
course all witnessed the Lean On craze.
There are several models that can lead to sustained
internet sensation status. The most obvious one is
to leverage the initial attention boost into a contract
with a label. While that’s far from a guarantee for
future success, it at least presents a well-understood
framework for future projects. The other option is to
look at the Blue Collar artist’s toolbox in an attempt
to develop into a DIY Star.
The DIY Star: The DIY star trajectory is still a relatively
recent development. Its prototypical protagonist
is Chance the Rapper, who built his entire career
- which so far culminated in his Grammy-winning
2016 album Coloring Book - without relying on
traditional industry structures. He self-released all of
his work thus far, built his career on platforms like
SoundCloud and YouTube and made Coloring Book,
which was initially released exclusively on Apple
Music, into the first-ever streaming-only title to win a
Grammy.
So, the DIY Star is an artist that reaches stardom
in do-it-yourself fashion. It’s the blue collar artist’s
best-case scenario if you will. Thus, this music-related
toolkit is pretty much identical to the BCA’s.
However, the higher profile allows the DIY Star to
use his or her brand for other revenue-generating
endeavors, which can range from advertising deals
to collaborating with big brands or even launching
new businesses.
Of course, these four archetypes are only a rough
description of reality and you’ll find many hybrids
in practice. But the goal isn’t to fit reality into a neat
model but rather, simply, to establish a clearer, more
nuanced understanding of different career types -
which can be pretty useful, for instance, when talking
about different options for artists at certain points of
their careers.
If you have any feedback or input in the meantime,
just drop me a line at
thomas.euler@whagwaan-magazine.de
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global reggae charts | issue 11 / march 2018