With piracy taking big chunks of profits out of music sales and digital music sales figures going up, Levent Karahan, founder and CEO of Reggae Inc is pushing forward with his independent digital Reggae distribution network.

The idea for the company was born when Karahan left his A&R position at Sony Music in 1999 and established the world’s first standardised application for digital distribution Yoom, which later emerged as 24-7 Entertainment – now the #1 entity for digital music distribution in Europe and the #3 worldwide. Karahan had the idea to use the very same technology and distribution network to establish an entity specialising in Reggae.

Why Reggae? As the businessman pointed out he used to travel between Germany and Jamaica on a regular basis and he fell in love with the island and finally even migrated in 2003 to realise his plan.

But setting up the digital distribution company didn’t come without its challenges as Karahan pointed out, “On one hand, the illegal download facilities which are still supported by many ISPs (which is the real reason why illegal downloads are still so popular) and on the other hand, making the artistes, producers and labels aware that they are incredible and countless alternatives out there such as my company – Reggae Inc to gradually turn the illegal music download market into a legal one. And of course there were the more established digital distribution companies out there offering unlimited downloads.

Still unfazed by those hurdles Karahan pressed on and today the company boasts clients such as Taxi Records, Mixing Lab, Phat Trax Productions and many others.

According to Karahan new ones are now signing up daily as Reggae Inc’s services includes delivering to the biggest Internet music stores and mobile carrier networks worldwide such as 24-7 Entertainment, Amazon, iTunes.

In speaking about digital distribution Karahan says it’s the only way for artistes, producer and labels to go if they really want to increase music sales. “Right now we are doing everything we can including very creative ways of selling Reggae online and via mobile devices, to ensure that money can be made for those content owners. Especially for Jamaica and Reggae it is about time that relevant Reggae revenues come back to the Island as this is the very origin and still the pulse of Reggae,” he told the Observer.

With the company now boasting the achievement of being one of the largest independent digital Reggae distribution networks, Karahan says from hereon it’s all about looking forward to new things and greater accomplishments.