Shaggy is imploring emerging acts to adopt a more businesslike attitude to their music operations in order to take full advantage of the local and international opportunities.

Shaggy was special guest on the third in the online diaspora town hall meeting series titled ”Lets Connect with Ambassador Marks” which took place last Thursday.

“The artistes have to start handling themselves in a more professional manner. Because if you’re not gonna do it professionally and have a professional team… Then you’re going to look like [an unorganised] ‘patty shop’ operation, and you’re gonna be treated like a poppy show,” he said.

He urged the Government to do more in educating artistes on how to operate more businesslike, and to do more to support and promote the island’s music. He recommended that there be more seminars and workshops which will guide artistes how to manage their music operations.

Ambassador Audrey Marks supported the need for continuing education on business operation and marketing among artistes, as this will help them to navigate the difficult minefield of the international music business.

Turning to the matter of the popularity of Jamaican music on the international market, Shaggy pointed out that “as influential as Jamaican music is on the global stage, there is an underwhelming lack of support for the music from Jamaicans.”

He observed that many Jamaicans at home and across the Diaspora did not support local musicians in the same way they supported other international artistes, as generally they were not subscribers of any of the streaming services which was now determining the direction of music internationally.

Shaggy further pointed out that “at this point, reggae/dancehall has less than six per cent of the global market share, which he lamented, “does not really give us a seat at the table”.