Global Reggae Charts - Issue #12 / April 2018

issue # 12 | april 2018
feature
Reggae Careers
in the Internet Age
Part III
artist of the month
Etana
business insight
Mathieu Dassieu -
Baco Records
Vladimir Zavialov -
Russia
global reggae charts | issue 12 / april 2018

global reggae charts | issue 4 / august 2017
#12

editorial
Welcome to a new edition of the Global Reggae Charts!
In this month’s installment of our Reggae Careers in the Internet Age series, we’ll cover the topic of
streaming services and the impact they have on the business of music. One aspect: the increasing
importance of the playlists on the big streaming platforms. Thus, it’s only fitting that we launched a
new Spotify playlist ourselves.
It is called ”New Reggae Releases” and the title is exactly what you get: all the new reggae and
dancehall releases that made it to Spotify in one place. Since that didn’t exist yet, we figured it’s
time to do it ourselves. It’s not easy to keep up with all the releases that are being put out every
week. While Spotify by no means has a complete catalog of all the new reggae and dancehall releases,
it’s a good starting point.
By building this playlist, we want to provide a useful tool to our voters and reggae fans alike. We
hope you agree with that proposition! If you wanna check the playlist out, just follow this link or
search for ”New Reggae Releases” on Spotify. And if you like it, we are very happy if you spread
the word! The official Global Reggae Charts playlist will also stay alive, of course! (As we are still
fine-tuning the process, you might find that a release is missing. In that case, please let us know!
We want the playlist to be complete but the world of reggae is actually very wide.)
Additionally, we are launching a new segment in our magazine: Business Insight. It will usually
consist of interviews with interesting people from all across the reggae industry. For this month’s
premiere, we are very happy that we managed to convince Mathieu Dassieu, CEO of the wellknown
French label Baco Records, to talk to us about the situation of reggae labels in the 21st
century. He had many insightful things to say and the result is definitely worth your time to read.
Last but not least, I want to remind of you of the Reggae Mailbag idea I introduced last month. To
sum it up: we’d love to get a reggae-focused mailbag format going, i.e. readers ask smart questions
or share thoughts/ideas and I answer/comment on them. For a lack of questions so far, we
didn’t launch it this month. But I’m still very fond of getting it going. So, if you have any questions
that you want answered, have an idea you want to share and read my take on, or have heard of
rumors that you want to read a comment on, just drop me a line at:
mailbag@globalreggaecharts.com.
And now, have fun with the new edition of the Global Reggae Charts!
Best
Thomas
1
global reggae charts | issue 12 / april 2018

Album single Charts | top 20
Period
Ending 31/03/2018
Contributing voters: 50
# LM 2M PK MO ARTIST SINGLE LABEL
1 1 - 1 2 Capleton Help the Weak feat. Chronixx ZincFence
2 2 10 2 3 Koffee Raggamuffin Frankie Music
↑ 3 10 - 3 2 Protoje Bout Noon Mr Bongo
↑ 4 12 - 4 2 Dre Island Yaad N Abraad Digi Killaz
5 5 1 1 8 Alborosie Living Dread Baco
↑ 6 13 - 6 2 King Kong Old School feat. Burro Banton, Pinchers Irie Ites Records
7 7 9 2 5 Jah9 Feel Good VP
8 9 - 8 2 Micah Shemaiah Roots I Vision Evidence
9 15 6 6 4 Lila Iké Gotti Gotti In.Digg.Nation
10 11 - 10 2 Joe Pilgrim & The Ligerians Use Your Time Soul Nurse
11 6 2 2 7 Black Uhuru Jah Guide feat. Bugle Ajang Music
↑ 12 17 11 11 6 New Kingston Come from Far Easy Star
↑ 13 16 7 2 7 Protoje Truths & Rights feat. Mortimer Mr Bongo
+ 14 - - 14 1 Bryan Art Can‘t Cut Wi Vibes G-Block
15 8 15 8 3 Joe Pilgrim & The Ligerians Migrants Soul Nurse
16 3 3 3 4 Koffee Burning Upsetta
17 20 - 17 2 Tarrus Riley Haunted Diwali
+ 18 - - 18 1 Mellow Mood Large La Tempesta Dub
+ 19 - - 19 1 Marla Brown Trigger Marla Brown
+ 20 - - 20 1 Raging Fyah Rebel VP
Capleton & Chronixx
Raging Fyah Mellow Mood Micah Shemaiah
Tarrus Riley
# = this month’s position on the chart LM = last month’s position on the chart 2M = position two months ago
PK = peak position MO = months on the chart ↑= signifies upward movement + = new entry
global reggae charts | issue 12 /april 2018 2

Album Charts | top 20
Period
Ending 31/03/2018
Contributing voters: 46
europe
# LM 2M PK MO Artist Album Label
1 2 - 1 2 Micah Shemaiah Roots I Vision Evidence
2 1 7 1 3 Sly & Robbie and Dubmatix Overdubbed Echo Beach
+ 3 - - 3 1 Etana Reggae Forever Tad‘s
↑ 4 12 - 4 2 King Kong Repatriation Irie Ites Records
5 3 2 1 6 Jesse Royal Lily of da Valley Easy Star
6 6 18 6 3 Hollie Cook Vessel of Love Merge
7 4 4 2 9 Damian Marley Stony Hill Republic
8 8 6 2 5 Mista Savona Havana meets Kingston Baco
9 9 5 1 8 Chronixx Chronology Soul Circle Music
↑ 10 11 20 10 3 Iba Mahr Get Up and Show Oneness
+ 11 - - 11 1 Bushman Conquering Lion Burning Bushes
12 7 8 1 9 Samory I Black Gold Rorystonelove / Black Dub
13 5 1 1 5 Randy Valentine New Narrative Royal Order
+ 14 - - 14 1 Alam Sounds Of Freedom Baco
+ 15 - - 15 1 Vibronics Woman on a Mission SCOOPS
16 13 3 3 4 Exco Levi Narrative Silly Walks
17 15 12 4 7
Lee ”Scratch“ Perry with
Subatomic Sound System
Super Ape Returns to Conquer
Echo Beach
18 10 14 10 3 Mo‘Kalamity feat. Sly & Robbie One Love Vibration Sofia-Thea
19 20 16 11 5 Chezidek Irie Day Chezi Berry
+ 20 - - 20 1 Richie Phoe Kingston Connection in Dub Kingston Express
Randy Valentine
Etana Vibronics Alam
Iba Mahr
# = this month’s position on the chart LM = last month’s position on the chart 2M = position two months ago
PK = peak position MO = months on the chart ↑= signifies upward movement + = new entry
3
global reggae charts | issue 12 / april 2018

BUSINESS
INSIGHT
global reggae charts
insight
INTERVIEW
With this issue we start a new series of interview
with business insiders, who will give insights into
their field of work. We start with Mathieu Dassieu
from Baco Records in France, who speaks about the
work of a reggae label in the 21st century.
Photo: Julie Arnoux
Felix Rühling: Hi Mat. The topic of this interview is
“managing a reggae label in 2018.” But since I know
that you are a busy man with many talents – can
you give us a little insight on your background and
the work you are doing?
Danakil’s development was useful for many other
bands. This “Do It Yourself” strategy has become a
real way to think about our business model and it
can fit many other projects or bands. We have experimented
with these “management techniques”
with many bands. What we were aware of, since the
beginning, was that we were involved in a “strange”
business where nobody on radio, TV, or mainstream
media, or big mainstream promoters, wanted to deal
with reggae artists or releases. It was very hard to
obtain visibility with our reggae projects, and that’s
maybe why big labels and major companies were
not interested in reggae bands like us.
Mathieu Dassieu: I am the former saxophonist of
Danakil’s horn section, and manager of the band since
the beginning of our activity in the 2000s, when
we were young students beginning to play reggae
music all together.
More than 10 years after our first gigs, we decided to
create Baco Records in 2011. At this time, we wanted
to take our independence back after a “not so nice”
experience on an indie label. But today, I am retired
from the road with the Danakil band and I mainly
focus on Baco Records’ activities and artist management.
FR: When I look at Baco Records, I see one of the
most successful reggae labels in Europe - some say
even THE most successful within continental Europe.
But, from my perspective, Baco is much more than
just a label releasing music. It is a small empire and
for some artists even the gateway to the European
market. What exactly are you doing and why is that?
Don’t you think that just releasing records is enough
work? [laughs]
MD: Thanks Felix! When we launched our label
activity, we were just managing our own (Danakil)
releases. But month after month, we discovered that
the independent economic model we built through
We understood at this time that the best way to
make our business go well, and to live for and from
our passion, was to try to manage the entire musical
industry “process.”
When Ben Ferdy, Danakil’s former booker, decided to
join us in the Baco adventure, it really changed the
face of our label. At this time, we were able to build
tours around a release, and so to see and to use the
“booking activity” as a major part of our promotion:
especially for bands banned on national TV and
radio. We must build strong and efficient tours if we
want to deliver our artist’s music to the audience.
At the same time, we founded our publishing company
to take good care of our publishing rights.
Two years after, we founded the distribution department
of Baco Records. And today, we are a major
distributor in France. Now we can put on the shelves
our own releases, and also offer this service to other
labels.
2018 is a very important year for us because we are
building our own office in the deep centre of
Bordeaux. The new office will be available this summer,
with a big bad recording studio inside. At this
time, we will be controlling all the “chain” between
the emergence of the first musical notes of a brand-
global reggae charts | issue 12 /april 2018
4

global reggae charts
insight
MD: As a Danakil member, we started our musical
careers at a time when the market was collapsing.
The business model was already dead in 2000,
and many labels and distributors were closing. So,
we have never experienced the “golden” business
model as it used to be in the 70s/80s. We grew, as
musicians, and as producers, in this time of big tribulations
for the musical industry. From the beginning
we were thinking that a new business model will
rise, and that we must do our best to be on the front
line, trying to give birth to a model that could be profitable.
Thus, we realized that the best way to move
in this positive direction was to manage the whole
productive chain: from the studio to the distribution,
from the touring activity to the publishing part, trying
to handle every aspect of the complex musical industry
world. It took us 10 years of useful experiences
before succeeding in managing all these aspects.
new song, and the moment where we bring the LP
on the stores, and that’s a great pleasure for us when
you know where we come from! We were a laborer
without a plant, and we are going to have our production
tool – it’s going to radically change our way
to produce music.
FR: The music industry is changing a lot lately. For
some years now streaming services helped to increase
the overall revenue of the music industry, on the
other hand many people argue about Spotify, Apple
Music, etc., destroying the music industry. No one
really knows what smart speakers will do to music
consumption, and then to music promotion; value
gap and blockchain are the most popular topics at
every music industry convention, and even 20 years
after the industry overslept on the relevance of mp3
and Napster, I’m not sure if they are in control of the
changes the digital world brings to them every day.
Does any of this affect your work or have any relevance?
How do you react to these changes?
We were one of the first bands to use what was considered
a big trouble and handicap – the Internet and
free downloading – as a tool to develop our band
image and our fan base. Social networks helped us
very much with increasing the number of people
who became aware of our music, and then became
band “followers.” Currently, the fact that the music
is “free” because of peer-to-peer permits us to send
our music everywhere. We were not disappointed
about that because we never knew the time when
musicians were earning money from CD/LP sales.
We used this fact to make our music available everywhere,
pushing the band on many social networks
such as Myspace or Facebook. It has really increased
the band’s popularity, especially on the Internet where
we have developed a young and faithful audience.
Some years after, in 2011, we stayed faithful to this
mechanism, still using the principle of “free music,”
to give our brand-new album Echos du Temps at the
entry of all our gigs during the tour. We distributed
more than 30,000 copies for free. The impact of this
marketing operation was huge, and the album beca-
5
global reggae charts | issue 12 / april 2018

global reggae charts
insight
me a Danakil classic, with high sales in shops and in
digital stores.
When structural changes happened like that, it’s
better to try to use these changes, and to think about
how it can be profitable for you, instead of trying to
fight against these changes. Some big major labels
or distributors tried to struggle against these changes:
they lost their time and money, and missed the
strategic bend that was occurring at this time.
FR: Imagine a new record label with some good
productions ready to be released. What would you
advise them to start with?
MD: You must be original! And try to find ways to go
off of the path, if you want to meet success. I don’t
want to go into a classic marketing lesson, however,
the first step is always to analyze the strengths and
weaknesses of our projects, of our organization.
Baco Records
Location: Bordeaux, France
founded: 2011
Artists: Danakil, Protoje, Nattali Rize, Havana Meets
Kingston, Biga*Ranx, Yaniss Odua, ...
www.bacorecords.fr
www.facebook.com/bacorecords
www.twitter.com/bacorecords
www.youtube.com/bacorecords
country, probably because of the conscious and
revolutionary messages it delivers. With no huge
visibility, it’s always difficult to make our economic
model profitable. The sales are low. And bands and
labels mainly live because this music is very popular,
and people come to attend the shows.
The way you choose your partners is also very
important, especially when you know that there are
many “foolish” entities and characters in our business!
Finding people in who you can trust is very
important for the stability of your business. However,
for me, the main idea is: Do It By Yourself whenever
it’s possible. You will learn new things, meet new
people, and it will push you to understand more
business features, and this is very exciting! We must
have fun in our day-to-day work! And it never happens
when you are in a day-to-day routine: you must
think every day of which new things can be done to
improve your label, stimulate your team and partners,
etc.
FR: As Baco Records is a reggae label, do you see
any specific advantages or disadvantages coming
with the genre?
The main advantage is that we build a strong audience
and community, who are very faithful. People
haven’t discovered our projects on TV. We never
had national exposure. It’s just word of mouth, live
meetings, real experiences of different human beings
that meet during the time of a show. This makes the
relationship between bands and fans very strong.
When you see a singer appear on a national TV talent
show for the first time, even if he won it, it’s highly
likely that no one will be remembering him 2 months
after the TV show broadcast. Our bands have been on
the road for years now. This is a slow development,
but it’s a real and sincere one. People won’t leave the
band from one day to another. They identified themselves
with the band. The band represents something
important for them, just as they are important for the
band. That is the beauty of our reggae music: bands
and fans are dependent each other.
MD: Haha! I only see disadvantages! This music is
highly boycotted by mainstream media, in every
FR: Thank you so much for your time, and good luck
with your future projects and the studio.
global reggae charts | issue 12 /april 2018
6

Album Riddim Charts | top 5
Period
Ending 31/03/2018
Contributing voters: 27
europe
1 1 1 1 3 Oneness Nice & Easy Riddim
# LM 2M PK MO LABEL RIDDIM
↑ 2 5 - 2 2 Digi Killaz Yaad N Abraad Riddim
3 2 2 2 3 Giddimani Civil Rights Riddim
+ 4 - - 4 1 May.B Unity Unity Riddim
+ 5 - - 5 1 Giddimani Anti-Racism Riddim
Unity Riddim
Anti-Racism Riddim
7
ON Air
Argentina
Estación La De Dios
LDD SOUNDS PRESENTS
GLOBAL REGGAE CHARTS
with Santi Palazzo
Sundays 3:00 pm ART
Argentina
Radio Cantilo
FUNKY KINGSTON
with Georgia and Santi
Wednesdays 10:00 pm ART
Canada
Radio Regent
ItaL rOOts RaDio
with Sweet T & MAdCast-Fuji
Tuesdays - 3:00 pm EST
Canada
Rootz Reggae Radio
NEW MUSIC - TDIF
with DJ Klient
Fridays - 6:00 pm
Costa Rica
Urbano 106
DI DOCTA SHOW
with Docta Rythm Selecta
3. Tuesday - 8:00 pm CST
Germany
Antenne Münster
COOL & DEADLY
with Roots Operator Wolle
4. Saturday - 8:00 pm
Germany
Radio Regentrude
GLOBAL REGGAE CHARTS
with Brigitte Reinert
Last Friday - 8:00 pm CET
global reggae charts
radio shows
Indonesia
UK
Bpost Radio
Black Country Radio
REGGAE TOP SINGLE CHART 20
RIDDIM SESSIONS
with Harry Ramadhan
with Kevin Moore
Mondays - 9:00 pm WITA
Fridays - 1:00 am GMT
Israel
Radio Kol Hanegev 106.4 FM
BA BA REGGAE
with Asaf “Baba G“ Nahmias
Mondays - 8:00 pm IST
Italy
Radio Popolare Network
REGGAE RADIO STATION
with Vitowar
Last Sunday - 11:45 pm CET
Italy
Atom Radio
GLOBAL REGGAE CHARTS
Sundays 5:00 pm CET
Norway
Radio Nova
OSLO REGGAE SHOW
with Dominic Reuben & Selecta Harmony
Last Tuesday 9:30 pm CET
UK
1BTN
VENUM SOUND SHOW
with DJ Kris Snakes
4. Sunday 4:00 pm GMT
UK
99.8FM KCC Live
ELEMENTS OF REGGAE
with MJRuckus
3. Tuesday - 10:00 pm GMT
UK
fuzionlive.com
REGGAE TAKEOVER
with Judge Knott
Sunday 6pm GMT
UK
Radio St. Austell Bay 105.6 FM
A-Z OF REGGAE
with Mark Norman
Last Sunday - 4:00 pm GMT
UK
Vibes FM
REGGAEMYLITIS
with Sarah C
Last Wednesday - 6:00 pm GMT
UK
World A Reggae
IRIE JAMMS SHOW
DJ 745
On Demand
Venezuela
Radio Nacional de Venezuela
DESDE EL GHETTO
with George Dread
2. & 4. Saturday - 11:00 am VET
global reggae charts | issue 12 / april 2018

Reggae Careers
in the Internet Age
Part III: Gamechanger Streaming
Economy
Text: Thomas Euler // whagwaan-magazine.de
Streaming is the main driver behind the music industry’s
return to growth in the last couple of years. The
industry behemoths - Spotify, Apple Music and
Amazon - sit comfortably above 120 million paying
subscribers, according to figures from Music Business
Worldwide. In 2017, the major labels raked in
over US$ 5,3 billion in streaming revenues. As sales
- both physical and digital - continue to dwindle, it
becomes increasingly important for artists to familiarize
themselves with the mechanics and rules of
the streaming game. Thus, this installment of Reggae
Careers in the Internet Age looks at music streaming
and what it means for reggae artists.
First things first: music streaming is a gamechanger.
It has entirely altered the recorded music market
because it changes what artists are being rewarded
for. In order to be successful in the world of sales,
an artist had to assemble a large fanbase of people
willing to spend money on a record. The more such
fans an artist had, the better off they were. In the
streaming economy, that’s no longer true. Streaming
platforms pay out their revenues to the labels and
artists based on the number of streams. As a result,
it’s no longer enough to have many fans. While the
number of fans is certainly still relevant, what truly
matters in streaming is engaged fans.
Here’s a simple example to illustrate that. Say artist
A has 1000 fans and each one listens once to A’s new
tune. That makes 1000 total streams. Artist B, meanwhile,
has only 100 fans but each of them listens ten
times to B’s new song. In that example, both artists
have the same number of streams and, thus, would
receive the same amount of streaming income (the
example is simplified, as in reality the individual contracts
between the label and the streaming platform
as well as between the artist and the label influence
what the artist eventually receives). While more
fans increase the likelihood of an artist doing well in
streaming, it’s even more important to have fans that
listen a lot.
This simple fact is already changing how artists and
labels create and release music. In most genres, the
album used to be the most important release (reggae
and dancehall are actually somewhat of an exception
as the single/7-inch played a much bigger role).
Hence, most marketing and sales activities focused
on it. The format originated from the fact that music
had to be distributed physically and the LP was the
logical way to sell a bundle of songs. But over the
decades, the album developed from a mere technical
format into a dedicated art form. Artists spent a lot
of thought, energy and creative energy on making
not only great songs but great albums. However, the
time of the album might slowly but surely be coming
to an end.
More and more artists are beginning to experiment
with new release formats that make use of the fact
that digital distribution via streaming platforms
allows for more freedom than the static album. While
the album world of old followed an established release
formula - single, single, album - the streaming
world is still a field for experimentation. Kanye West
was an early pioneer in that field: after the release of
his Life of Pablo album, he famously made several
changes to it - an approach several artists have adopted
since. Another approach was chosen by Drake
who dubbed his streaming-only release More Life
a “playlist”. While that might be regarded as mostly
symbolic, it’s also clearly indicating a changing
mindset.
Another interesting approach is currently being
global reggae charts | issue 12 /april 2018 8

global reggae charts
feature
tested by the producer duo The Chainsmokers.
A recent Billboard article explains:
“In January, The Chainsmokers put out “Sick Boy”
as what appeared to be a standard single release;
in February, “You Owe Me” arrived as a two-song
bundle on streaming services with “Sick Boy” in
the second slot; since the third single, “Everybody
Hates Me,” dropped March 16, it has topped the
three-song bundle. This cascading process will
repeat until a 12-song album drops in December.
Adam Alpert, CEO of the band’s longtime label,
Columbia partner Disruptor Records, came up with
what he calls the “building the album” strategy.
“Every song will get a new boost in consumption,”
he says.”
In essence, the idea is to slowly build an album by
releasing each song individually, though paired with
all the songs that preceded it. Which, of course, aims
to give prior song another boost in streams once the
next track is released. The final result of that strategy
remains to be seen but it is definitely an interesting
release schedule that’s tailor-made for the streaming
age. While the end result is still going to be a collection
of tracks - an album, essentially - the process to
get there is dramatically different.
But the album format is not the only thing in music
that’s changing thanks to streaming. The other major
shift occurs in discovery. Traditionally, radio was the
most important way for fans to discover music and
new artists. While it is still a highly relevant medium
in today’s transitional phase of the music business,
another discovery tool’s relevance is increasing rapidly:
the playlist. The two largest streaming services,
Spotify and Apple Music, both make heavy use of
curated and/or algorithmically created playlists which
help their users to discover new music.
And those playlists can be highly influential. Spotify’s
famous hip-hop playlist RapCaviar, which Vulture
once called “the most influential playlist in music”,
for instance has almost 10 million followers as of
writing this (for comparison’s sake: Dancehall
Official, Spotify’s biggest dancehall playlist has just
above 500,000 followers). A song that finds it way
onto it can easily blow up, as happened last year
with rapper Lil Uzi Vert’s XO Tour Llif3. The track was
voted “Song of the Summer” at the 2017 VMAs and
peaked at #10 of the Billboard Hot 100 charts - all
without any significant airplay on radio.
So, artists that want to build a career in the streaming
age need to master new challenges. First, they
need to establish relationships with the relevant
curators who can drive listens and break artists.
Moreover, they need to develop tactics to engage
their fans and turn them into regular streamers. This
might start with the music itself, include innovative
release strategies, and also the use of social media to
drive repeat listens. As the rules of the game change,
so do the moves that win big. And it doesn’t necessarily
require major label power behind it. If you search
the web for success stories of DIY artists or those
signed at independent labels, you will find that innovative,
clever teams have a real opportunity.
The key, however, is to not solely rely on streaming
revenues but to make it part of a broader strategy.
Due to the way streaming revenues are distributed
among rights owners, the biggest artists in terms of
overall plays make the most money. For smaller acts,
it can be a challenging environment. Thus, artists in a
niche genre like reggae might find it even harder to
create revenue from streams than from sales. Still,
streaming presents an opportunity even to them.
One key benefit that comes with streaming music is
very good data about the audience. Clever teams, for
instance, use insights like the cities in which an act
is most popular to plan successful tours. The precise
structure of the optimal business varies from artist to
artist - but the streaming economy makes controlling
all parts of it in an integrated manner more desirable
than ever, especially in a “global niche” like reggae.
If you have any feedback or input in the meantime,
just drop me a line at
thomas.euler@whagwaan-magazine.de
9
global reggae charts | issue 12 / april 2018

ETANA
Etana’s name means “The Strong One” in Swahili, and it’s a title she more
than lives up to with her music and presence. Since debuting in 2006 with
the thought-provoking single “Wrong Address,” the Jamaican-born singer
has established herself as one of the most powerful and distinctive voices in
reggae, blazing a new trail in a genre that has long been male-dominated.
Her new album “Reggae Forever” was released on March 8th - International
Women’s Day - by Tad’s International, and went straight to #3 on the Global
Reggae Charts and #1 on the Billboard Reggae Charts.
global reggae charts | issue 12 /april 2018

global reggae charts | issue 12 / april 2018

REGGAE
COMMUNITY
RUSSIA
global reggae charts
featured voter
INTERVIEW
This month we talked to Vladimir Zavialov, who
is an editor on the Russian Reggae platform Daily
Vibes.
Global Reggae Charts: Can you please introduce
yourself and Daily Vibes!
Vladimir Zavialov: Hello world! My name is Vladimir
Zavialov, I’m from Moscow, Russia. I’m an editor and
administrator of the largest Russian media source
about reggae music – Daily Vibes. We have sixty-five
thousand subscribers. We work via one of the most
popular social networks in the world – VKontakte
(VK). Since almost all music and some other digital
content are free to use there, we make playlists,
publish news, write articles, and create other media
content for our subscribers; also, we promote
events and have organized two festivals. Daily Vibes
is everything on reggae in Russian: sharing with the
Russian-speaking world reggae music, its roots, evolution,
and present day manifestations. And not only
reggae, we like and share a wide variety of similar
modern and old school music. Last year we celebrated
eight years since the founding, and four since we
became known as Daily Vibes. This would not have
been possible without our inspiring leader, chief editor,
good professional, and friend – Sergey Karandashev
– who passed away unexpectedly last year. We
– two remaining editors and several authors – aspire
to continue sharing our passion for reggae by staying
true to our motto: a quality and professional
approach in everything we do. Although we are not
professional writers, PR managers, or musicians (I’m
personally an engineer), we do our best to spread
the word and beat of reggae to the Russian-speaking
community.
GRC: How did you get into reggae music?
VZ: As is common for Russians my age (I’m 26), we
Vladimir Zavialov
didn’t have much access to the Internet in the late
90s and early 2000s, so I got to know music through
video games (the Grand Theft Auto and Need For
Speed series to be exact) in high school. It started
with hip-hop, then I found myself to be a big reggae
lover, searching for discographies and playlists of
favorite artists. Once the Internet became more available,
I joined VK and found Sergey administrating
a group about reggae music. I reached out and told
him that I too have something to share with the
world. That’s how we started to create (the future)
Daily Vibes six years ago.
GRC: What kind of reggae music is the focus of
Daily Vibes? Do you cover Russian reggae as well?
Maybe you can give some insight on the Russian
reggae scene?
VZ: As I said, we love and try to share many sub-genres
and styles: from early African and Jamaican
music to ska and rocksteady to old and new roots
to modern dancehall, EDM, and ragga-jungle. But I
would say we focus on actual, trending music: new
Jamaican music, new roots, and new dancehall, that
global reggae charts | issue 12 /april 2018 12

global reggae charts
featured voter
explosive cocktail of form and content that is popular
all over the world now. We at Daily Vibes do our best
to stay attuned to what listeners demand and balance
it out with our constantly expanding knowledge of
the old, the evolved, and the transformed sounds of
reggae and its sub-genres.
Now the most difficult question – what about Russian
reggae? Of course we do cover and love Russian
reggae. It occupies up to 10% of our content. Due to
the “financial crisis” we started to see a decrease in
new artists, new material, and big concerts in the last
few years, but you still can find a good reggae/
dancehall party almost every week in Moscow (in
Saint Petersburg maybe once every other week),
thanks to good organizers and promoters!
It’s interesting to note that love for reggae music in
Russia originated basically from: Russian rock, punkrock
(ska), American hip-hop (raggamuffin) and European/American
EDM (drum ’n’ bass). And the most
popular events where reggae can be enjoyed are:
Russian reggae festivals, soundsystem parties with
DJs, classic reggae/dancehall/hip-hop parties with
selectors, plus jungle/ragga-jungle; the new trend is
bass/grime music, of course.
Popularity of Russian reggae increases slowly from
year to year thanks to roughly a dozen active and
popular artists, bands, and producers. Although they
work in different styles, Russian reggae artists, since
the USSR, put in their dedication and soul to create
a uniquely Russian reggae vibe. For most of these
artists today it remains a hobby, only for a few is it
their main profession.
If you would like to hear some names of Russian
reggae artists, I will mention here only patois-speaking
Steppa Style (modern reggae, ragga-jungle, and
dancehall) and Tenor Youthman (digital reggae, ruba-dub).
For more Russian reggae artists, I will place
links to our page (tagged #Russia) vk.cc/3hTIzB and
to my own mix of Russian reggae for foreign listeners
goo.gl/fyjEN2.
GRC: How do you find out about new music? Are
you relying on music submission from artists, labels
and PR agents, or do you look for yourself?
VZ: I look for new material by myself from the most
popular sources, sites, video channels, and radio
shows. Some things I find in our social network,
VK. And yes, I do check submissions from (Russian)
artists and agents and publish the most relevant
material.
GRC: If you get submissions with new music by
mail or email, what are the dos and don’ts to catch
your attention?
VZ: The most important thing for me is music. If I
enjoy it, it will catch my attention. I really like when
this happens. I also appreciate respect and manners
when I receive submissions.
13
short FACTS
Location: Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia
Website: Daily Vibes
Position: Editor
https://vk.com/daily_vibes
https://vk.com/osdogg
www.facebook.com/zavialovv
www.mixcloud.com/vladimir-zavialov
GRC: Which artists have you found most inspiring
lately?
VZ: I find new inspiring artists and songs every
month! To name a few: Mo’Kalamity, Perfect Giddimani,
Lutan Fyah, Keznamdi, Biga Ranx, Kojo Kombolo,
Capleton, Koffee, Alkaline, Jahmiel, Shatta
Wale, Busy Signal… I’d like you to hear my “The Best
of… 2017” playlists: Reggae, Dancehall, and Russian
Reggae.
- Top 50 Reggae 2017: https://vk.cc/7TTUEB (VK) /
https://goo.gl/5EsvLR (Spotify)
- Top 50 Dancehall 2017: https://vk.cc/7TTZkj (VK) /
https://goo.gl/x9K9v5 (Spotify)
global reggae charts | issue 12 / april 2018

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global reggae charts | issue 12 /april 2018