T&T’s music: still seeking the world stage

Can T&’s music and steel pan become a billion-dollar industry internationally?  That’s a question music industry stakeholders continue to ask.  David Rudder, who managed to penetrate the North American, Japanese and European markets, said in the course of an interview last year that he is not sure that calypso has reached its “true” international level. There are some songs like Arrow’s “Hot Hot Hot” and Anslem Douglas’ “Who Let the Dogs Out”, he says, but there are not many songs that have made it to the international stage. Artists who have struggled, like Mr. Rudder, believes “the journey now start” when it comes to marketing T&T’s music.

“We don’t have a clue about what selling the music is about. We need to have the people who know how to do this.” Mr. Rudder said, arguing that getting local music on international music charts to reach a wide audience requires “knowing people who can break artistes.” And, he said, it costs somewhere between $10-12 million to “break” or establish an artiste.

Even before this can happen, he said, T&T nationals need to support their own music, because music recording companies first look at nationals’ passion for their own music before signing on a new artiste.  He’s saddened by the lack of marketing strategy for music, saying that in most instances, one artiste is struggling to establish himself internationally when it should be a collaborative effort.

Now based in Canada, Mr. Rudder contends that one factor working against T&T’s international ascendance is that the standard of music has deteriorated and become repetitive.  He believes special training in music should be given to young people so that they can create music and improve the standard of local music.  He advised young people to listen to all types of music to stimulate tier creativity. Referring to his own career, Mr. Rudder says demand for his music is based on people’s desire for high quality music.

Dr. Gordon Rohlehr, retired lecturer at the University of the West Indies, said the question of whether calypsonians have been able to establish a billion-dollar industry remains just that: a question.  There are many artistes who have been able to establish a name for themselves on their own. He said “Calyponians tend to ‘move out’ on their own and establish their niche on their own. They have been able to achieve individually, not collectively.”

When an artiste has established a fan base which buys his/her CDs, he/she te4nds not to want to share it with other artistes.  They become rivals because they do not want other artistes to take ‘a piece of the cake’ and, added Dr. Rohlehr even if some of the artistes manage to penetrate the international market, they don’t bring back the money to T&T for fear of being taxed her and in the country where they made it big.

Referring to the style and quality of local music, Dr. Rohlehr said artistes sometimes have to change the calypso music to suit the audience and the market so that their material can make it internationally. “In order to access the various markets outside of T&T, they need to have the product that the people want, which means they may not sing calypsos they first created. They may have to bring down the lyrics. This has been happening for the past 20 years. If this enables the artiste outside of T&T and reach their objectives, fine, but it does not do much for the calypso form,” he said.

The potential for pan music is much better than calypso and soca.  Pan is taught at schools from Chicago to Japan. Europe to New York. Bu the local pan industry is not developed enough to be used as a means of earning revenue for T&T, said Patrick Arnold, who was President of Pan Trinbago for thirteen years.  Mr. Arnold who has been in the pan fraternity since the 1960s says pan is accepted internationally, but T&T is not reaping the rewards.

“We should be benefitting a great deal from pan, since it has been accepted internationally on a broad basis. I was able to make a living making pan.  We need to pay close attention to pan in T&T.  It should be the second earner of revenue for T&T, but the infrastructure has not been set up.  Pan is a big industry. We don’t need to do any feasibility study. The facts are there.”