MAKING hit songs and the big charts in the United States and Europe is still the ultimate goal for most artistes. Getting those songs in movie soundtracks and television ads is also important.

Washington DC-based singjay Monsoon Bedward is the latest Jamaican artiste to go that route. He is banking on a year-long publishing deal with Warner-Chappel to get his song, Ice Cream, in the lucrative Latin market.

Recorded in 2010, Ice Cream is a hip hop/dancehall song produced by American Gabriel Candiani.

The Clarendon-born Monsoon Bedward, who is in his late 30s, has performed in Costa Rica and Panama. He is eyeing the hugely popular Hispanic network Telemundo.

“That’s a big, big market an’ it would be great to get into it. The important thing is to not only show off my vocal ability but my writing skills,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

With global music sales plummeting, modern artistess are looking to publishers to break their songs in other mediums, such as movies, television shows and ads, and documentaries.

It is a strategy that has worked for Grammy-winning dancehall acts such as Shaggy, Sean Paul and Shabba Ranks.

Born Denton Bedward, Monsoon Bedward has lived in Washington DC since the early 1990s. His latest song, Madiba, is a tribute to Nelson Mandela.

— Howard Campbell