Jamaican classics go online - JamaicaObserver.com

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Jamaican classics go online

Sonia Pottinger inks online distribution deal

By Steven Jackson

Friday, September 04, 2009

Catalogued songs by Alton Ellis, The Paragons, Skatalites and Marcia Griffiths will get a second life through a new online distribution deal with US-based Independent Online Distribution Alliance (IODA) and Jamaican label owner Sonia Pottinger.

The music will get worldwide distribution through IODA's network of digital retail outlets, mobile retailers and subscription services. It is the first time these music catalogues will be widely available for legal download.

From left: Freddy McGregor, Hugh 'King Jammys' James and Sonia Pottinger at the EME Awards in February where they were honoured for their contribution to reggae music.

The songs include Marcia Griffiths' Dreamland, Feel Like Jumping and Survival, Alton Ellis' Mr Soul of Jamaica; The Paragons' The Tide is High; and the Skatalites Rough & Tough.

"(This) is sure to create a stir with old and new music fans around the globe," said Erik Gilbert, vice-president for content at IODA, on the agreement inked earlier this week.

Gilbert added that online music sales have provided a new method of marketing "culturally valuable and important music from the past to be preserved and revived".

Under the three-tier agreement, IODA will distribute the songs through independent publisher Notable Music, which represents local labels High Note Records and Treasure Isle, owned by Pottinger.

Next year, Notable Music will re-release Pottinger's entire catalogue of reggae music, including those on her other successful labels, including Tip Top Records, Gay Feet and Glory.

"We choose to work with IODA for the technology and distribution network they have in place but also for their deep understanding of, and passion for, independent music," said Tom DeSavia, Booth's partner at Notable Music, about the agreement.

Notable Music was founded by legendary composer and jazz musician Cy Coleman, in 1962.

IODA started in 2003 and has a roster of nearly two million music tracks and over 2,000 independent film and video titles. IODA distributes its music and video catalogue to more than 400 digital storefronts worldwide, including iTunes, Amazon MP3 and MySpace Music and mobile carriers and outlets such as Verizon Wireless, Sprint and Nokia.

Pottinger

Pottinger was honoured this year at the Excellence in Music and Entertainment (EME) Awards. She ran many labels, starting with SEP (Sonia E Pottinger), then Gayfeet, after which it was High Note Records, Glory (from which came local gospel pioneers such as Claudette Clarke and Otis Wright); and her Trojan UK sub-labels, as well as the Treasure Isle label, which she bought from her long-standing associate Duke Reid shortly before his death in 1974.

She reissued many Treasure Isle's tunes before she went into retirement in 1985. Her first hit was Joe White and Chuck's Every Night, with which she got off to a running start, and from then came numerous follow-ups.

Sonia Pottinger became a very prolific hit-making record producer, and among her most well-known productions are The Whip by the Ethiopians, The Melodians' Swing and Dine (and dance for your money) and Culture's Harder Than the Rest, 1978 album. And of course, she also has successful projects with Alton Ellis, Ken Boothe, Delano Stewart, Toots and the Maytals, Bob Andy, U Roy and Big Youth.

EME Awards cited her for having three of her productions included on a list of top 100 Jamaican hits of all time, with Joe White and Chuck's Every Night, listed at number 40.

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