AFTER one year of lobbying, the Official Worldwide Reggae Embassy has achieved recognition for various Caribbean sounds from giant performance rights society, Broadcast Music Inc (BMI).

The Reggae Embassy is an organisation comprising over 60 branches of the entertainment and business industries.

According to an article posted on the website, www.thegreatestnews.com, Christina Grand, director of operations for the Reggae Embassy, described the development as a huge victory and the first step in getting reggae/dancehall and soca music the recognition they deserve.

She noted that though ska and reggae are derived from mento, her organisation wants to ensure reggae represents its sub-genres, which also includes rocksteady and lovers rock.

Grand credits Dale ‘Dizzle’ Virgo, of the Jolly Boys mento band, for informing the embassy that when previously registering songs with BMI, that company’s publishing division registered them in the categories of ‘World Music’ or ‘Other’.

Founded in 1939, BMI is a leader in music rights management, as well as the collection of royalties on behalf of composers and music publishers from businesses that license their songs.

Big names such as Pink, Gloria Estefan, Britney Spears, Kanye West and Shakira are BMI members.