Global Reggae Charts - Issue #15 / August 2018

global reggae charts
insight
Yes, recently we had the pleasure of Soom T visiting
Melbourne for the first time. It‘s a long way to
come for artists - she performed just a few hours
after travelling for two days from the UK. Australian
audiences loved her spirit and energy on stage. Even
though the shows were in smaller venues the energy
was big!
I personally have a long history with Soom and
made a full album with her a few years back called
Bullets Over Babylon. We were living in Leipzig
while writing the album together, and I was immersed
in the local punk scene. I‘ve always been inspired
by strong women in music and in my life, and Bullets
Over Babylon is my ode to female empowerment.
AM: We’re often covering the business side of reggae
here at GRC, what are the pressures and realities you
face as a well known but independent reggae artist?
MM: I have to be honest and admit that being an
independent artist is really hard. For me the key to
my survival has been my ability to adapt and use
all of my skills to do as much of the work myself as
I can. These days I not only write the music, I also
usually record it, mix it and master it as well. So I
save myself a lot of money as I don’t have to hire out
other engineers. It’s been a steep learning curve and
sometimes the workload can be intense and extremely
low paid (or sometimes no pay).
But in the long run it‘s worth it because it allows me
to keep the integrity of my sound exactly the way I
hear it and want it to sound.
To keep costs down, I also built my own recording
studio (in a recycled insulated shipping container
that was used to snap freeze prawns in its past life).
I’ve installed a full set of solar panels on my trailer
that sits next to the studio, so I don’t have any electricity
bills. I also love that my music
has little or no carbon emissions
- my music is purely powered by
the sun. On the side, I also run our
sweet solar-powered sound system
DIY Hi Fi at events to help bring in
some extra cash plus occasionally
I mix for other people too. All the
money goes straight into my music
and my studio.
The bigger picture for me though
has really been interesting. I’ve
watched how the music-buying public
has shifted with the advent of
music now largely being streamed
on sites like Spotify and YouTube.
This has really changed the profits
I used to see coming off digital
downloads which in the past where
much higher than now. We also see some money
coming in via our vinyl sales but living in Australia is
tricky and a long way from most of the world‘s vinyl
presses. So pressings and release can often take a
little longer than expected and be more expensive as
we have to add shipping and time into the equation.
Bottom line is it can often take a few releases before
you actually start seeing a profit on the music you
release, so my advice would be to not give up your
global reggae charts | issue 15 / august 2018
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