By Shereita Grizzle—
Former Prime Minister Percival James Patterson has encouraged the entertainment fraternity to further facilitate partnerships with the sports industry.
Patterson was speaking at the Jamaica Reggae Industry Association’s annual symposium held at the Ranny Williams Entertainment Centre last Thursday as part of Reggae Month celebrations.
With genres of music unique to the island, the former prime minister encouraged the entertainment fraternity to explore the link between music and sports in a bid to change the nature and tone of the industry.
Patterson said that in order for the music industry to move forward, industry players should think outside the box and go beyond the ordinary, alluding to the fact that a partnership with sports would establish new entertainment grounds and would be a move away from the ordinary entertainment package.
BE MORE INVENTIVE
“We should go beyond the Reggae Sumfests and the Jazz and Blues Festivals. Be more inventive and create new opportunities,” he said.
This endorsement by the former prime minister comes just days after the Caymanas Track Limited, in association with McKay Security, made the announcement they would be using an event held at the track recently to start a new entertainment series.
The series, dubbed Caymanas Live, was birthed with the intention of boosting promotions for Caymanas Park outside of racedays. The idea for monthly shows followed a performance from dancehall artist Busy Signal and Yola Moi as part of McKay Security’s Raceday earlier this year.
The audience reaction to the entertainment package caused promoters to start the monthly show, which will see leading dancehall and reggae acts headlining the show at each staging. It is slated to get under way at the beginning of next month.
The phenomenon of marrying music and sports is not new; in fact, the partnership seems almost natural.
In the United States, the halftime show at the Super Bowl event is almost as popular as the game itself, with many viewers across the world flooding the stadium to get a glimpse of their favourite music superstars perform live.
MEANS OF ATTRACTION
There are other sporting events across the world that use music as a means of attraction; the Olympic Games and the World Cup are other examples.
The benefits go the other way as well. In the 2010 FIFA World Cup held in South Africa, US-Colombian singer Shakira and South African band Freshlyground released the promotional song Wacka Wacka (This Time for Africa). The song became synonymous with the games as the official FIFA World Cup song and was the lead single on the official 2010 FIFA World Cup album, Listen Up. The song went on to sell more than four million copies worldwide, and according to Billboard.com debuted at No. 43 on the Hot 100 chart.
Aside from the economic benefits garnered from ticket sales, the tourism industry is also guaranteed an economic boost, as more visitors come into the country for the event.