The creation of one song takes hours, days, even weeks of hard work but only minutes to spread across the Internet and into the homes of thousands.

Long gone are the days when persons had to wait on vinyls and CDs to obtain songs from their favourite artistes. With technological advances and the increase of digital distribution, music is spread globally in minutes. Digital distribution, which entails selling and distributing songs and even albums online, is nothing new. However, the Jamaican music industry has taken its time in embracing the advantages of distributing music online, until of late.

In the last several years, there have been a few business-minded producers who have inked distribution deals digitally, such as Donovan 'Don Corleon' Bennett who signed with BFM Digital which handles digital distribution for his label - Don Corleon Records. All the content from Don Corleon Records is now available online through all major music services such as iTunes and Amazon. Corleon is one in a handful of producers now practising this.

For the majority of producers, making a song and passing it on for free, to as many people as possible, has been the tradition in the dancehall. In March, in stepped the DASECA-produced 'Genesis' rhythm which saw exclusive premieres on radio in New York, the United Kingdom and Jamaica, and a promoted release date on iTunes. Since then, more and more producers have jumped unto the digital distribution wagon seeking better economic returns.

In a media release, producer David Harrisingh of DASECA lamented on the struggles of producers to make money in an industry where music is basically free to the public. "What has become the norm for Jamaican producers is to literally give away the music as soon as it is finished," said Harrisingh. "Email blasts, social networking sites, blogs, etc, ensure the music ends up in the hands of any and everyone who wants it, and they don't have to pay for it."

He added, "So while it creates a hype and gives artistes hit songs and generates shows and dub plate income for them, the producer has to pretty much wait on the few remaining labels who deal with reggae to license a song here or there for a compilation. Whereas in the past labels would take the whole rhythm from a producer, that has stopped because of poor sales and because our music has never been marketed properly, causing it to end up in a mire. Producers are needed in the business just as much as artistes so we have to find a way to survive."

The solution seems to be digital releases. Instead of blasting free music, producers have logged on to digital platforms to upload their songs and have consumers buy it. On iTunes alone, rhythms such as DNA, Genesis, Fyah Wyah, First Born, Beach Front, Mad Collab, Gogo Club, Money Tree as well as singles such as 9 Life from Mavado, Tomorrow from G-Whizz, Fresh from Flexxx and countless others are up for sale.

Very prolific

Producer Stephen McGregor recently released his digital compilation album series called Labwork, which can be purchased in volumes. He told THE STAR tabloid recently, "I think I'm very prolific with making singles and rhythms, so I figured compiling them into my own series would be a great idea. Instead of waiting on a company to license individual songs from me, and they're all quality songs, it'll be nice for people to have them on a one compilation, sorta like a collectors' item."

This comes at a time when CD sales globally are declining. According to an article on www.bukisa.com, album sales have been decreasing at a very noticeable rate since the year 2000. The article further added, "While global album sales are down as a whole, digital album sales are up in every major market." Digital distribution has the ability to sell music to a large, diverse market, with little to no overhead costs.

Local music insiders believe having Jamaican music available for sale online is a positive step for the future. According to Carlette DeLeon of Headline Entertainment, the process of digital distribution is no different from the original format of selling music which involved the making of the song, giving it to the distributor (usually a record store or label) which then passes it on to the consumer.

"The method is the same as the original, except now you make a song, give it to what we call an aggregator like iTunes, CDbaby, Reggae Inc and others, and then it goes to the consumer," she said. "The cost is actually lessened this way which gives the artiste the potential to make more money and definitely to have more control over their product."

Global export

DeLeon believed the move made by the producers to distribute their music digitally is a good one which allows the music to be exported globally in a short period of time. "This is the way of the present; it is where we are now. The reggae culture needed it. We were always large consumers of music but not necessarily large buyers but things and times have changed. There are more persons with a credit card who are willing to buy the music," she said.

Johnny Wonder, executive vice-president of the United States/Jamaican company, 21st/Hapilos Entertainment, said he likes the new climate of releasing music to a selected few radio jocks and then making the music available to consumers online. Wonder is known for his extensive music blast where in years gone by producers would send him the music and he would blast them to 2,000 persons such as disc jocks, radio jocks and persons in the entertainment business globally. Wonder said since producers are aiming to digitally distribute their music, his blasts have been cut down to approximately 600 persons making it much more elite.

He told The Sunday Gleaner, "My list was cut down drastically. If your not a disc jock, your not getting the songs. I think the best way to go is to give it to certain radio jocks to blast on air, promoting it for two to three weeks and get people to know the songs and then put it on iTunes where they can buy it if they like it. I like this new method. I feel it brings music back to a certain level."

For Julian Jones-Griffith, manager of DASECA, there is still a long way for the Jamaican music industry to go with digital releases. "Producers not really making any money. Long gone are the days when Greensleeves and VP had rhythm compilations, so we need to generate revenue for producers and keep them in the business. So far it started out well, more music is being bought (digitally) than ever before," he said.

Jones-Griffith explained that songs that cross over to the overseas markets will see more sales. Citing Serani's No Games as an example, he said it has sold 160,000 copies digitally.

There are those who have even decided to bypass the middle man entirely such as Tanya Stephens, who released her seventh studio album, Infallible, online for free. Explaining the move as giving back to her fans, Stephens said she wants to be in the cars and homes of her fans and have her music out there.

iTunes is now first option for latest releases