Improve Your Skills to Maximise Your Earnings – Minister Grange

Jamaican song writers and composers have been urged to improve their skills so as to maximise their earnings from their creative work.

In a pre-recorded video-taped message aired at a Music Writer’s workshop held on August 12 at the Edna Manley College of Visual and Performing Arts in Kingston, Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, Hon. Olivia Grange, said the estimated value of the Jamaican music industry is approximately US$130 million.

At the same time, she stated it was estimated that the worldwide sale of records amount to some US$4 billion.

“So there is room for growth and for us to get a bigger slice of the pie. This is why I have made it my mission to build sustainable prosperity for our people by growing our cultural and creative industries, including our music industry,” she added Touching on the importance of the workshop, she said “it is about improving your skills as song writers and composers.”

“But at another level it is about engaging you in maintaining the musical path of our culture. As practitioners, each of you will have a role to play,” she added.

Minister Grange said Jamaican Reggae icon, Bob Marley and Olympian, Usain Bolt have put Jamaica “centre stage because of our music and sport.”

“Our unique brand of music tells our story and it creates friendships with other nations. Music is culture, it is entertainment and it is also business. So while we sometimes take it as a compliment that others copy our music, we understand the cultural and economic value of it, so we must protect it and we must maximize our earnings from it,” she said.

The Minister also commended the Jamaican Copyright Licensing Agency (JAMCOPY) and the Jamaica Association of Composers Authors and Publishers (JACAP) for hosting the workshop and expressed the hope that it would be an annual event.

“Overtime, I want to see an ever expanding group of highly competent music notation specialists and professionals who understand their role in documenting, preserving and maximizing the earnings from our music,” she said.