Jamaicansmusic.com goes global

BY PAUL ALLEN Business reporter allenp@jamaicaobserver.com

Friday, February 10, 2012

NOT many 23-year-olds have an office in Indonesia, despite having no local headquarters and doing much of their business at cafés.

Even fewer can claim to be CEO of one of the 15 most popular websites on Facebook, with almost two million fans, but that's what Alex Morrissey has accomplished with Jamaicansmusic.com.

The company started three years ago when Morrissey, then working with a web development company, decided to take a calculated risk with a "hobby" he had.

The gamble paid off as the website has over 300,000 views each month, providing access to almost 1,000 artistes who do "Jamaican music".

Jamaicansmusic.com is the eleventh nominee in the Observer's Mogul in the Making start-up programme.

"Last year we did a redevelopment of the website and monetised it," Morrissey said. The site generates earnings from its advertising and also from distributing music, which it started last month.

"We have a wealth of information (from) all the different genres," he said. "We're trying to put out articles that no one else has."

Admitting that he expected growth to come more slowly, he attributed much of the success to their original content and easy-to-use website. "It was pretty basic, but redesigning it helped to change the flow and double the number of monthly visitors."

Artistes are charged US$10 ($858) monthly for premium pages. "It's a small price but we want to keep it open to smaller artistes as well," Morrissey said.

He faced challenges getting the company off the ground, as he had little experience in the music industry, but he remained determined. "It's very easy now because the site has become so popular."

The site also has live music, recently streaming a session with popular dancehall artiste Popcaan, which was viewed by over 4,000 people.

"I want to distribute content that may have been lost over the years. I want more pictures, more videos," said Morrissey. The company is currently working on a major project to be announced next month.