A Need For More Music Events
There are many activities to go looking for when you go on vacation. Tourism agencies worldwide are competing for your interest and factors like weather, hotel choices, transportation options, food, festivals and activities, are going to highly influence where you and the family go. Cost as well.
The more that those tourism agencies, and the regions they represent, can emphasize the unique experiences that people can seek there then the more successful they will likely be on their effort to entice people to book a ticket for a stay.
And for Jamaica, one of its unique features is the music scene.
Some of the most popular music festivals in the world bring tens of thousands of visitors from all over to new regions, they generate millions of dollars in business.
Music events are also a top attraction for tourists and for a region that depends heavily on tourism, like Jamaica does, anything that they can do to improve on that front will be very good for business.
Jamaican reggae and dancehall artist Capleton recently reiterated the same, suggesting that Jamaica needs more reggae specific music events. Throughout the year there are several festivals to find but not enough and there also is not enough coverage of them either. They are not using the power of social media to its full potential yet, to get the word out about those festivals or to raise interest for new ones either.
"We are a reggae island and we should stage the biggest festivals and shows to be found anywhere in the world... More shows are needed in Jamaica. Music is fun and it is informative. The most spiritual music on Earth is reggae music, because it have soul. It is the heartbeat. We have to keep the culture going,” - Capleton has said.
Some of the biggest reggae festivals take place in the United States, in places like Miami, Las Vegas, and California.
You can find reggae music festivals across Europe as well, in South Africa, Canada, Hong Kong, and other regions.
Jamaica does host a variety of well known reggae-themed festivals, but perhaps there could be more, which would help them to grow in a variety of ways and further solidify their image as a top reggae destination.
It is something unique that the region has to offer the world that not every other area can easily compete with.
It is not an easy task though, there are a variety of high costs associated with putting on such a festival, like taking care of waste management, and sometimes smaller festivals might fail to turn a profit altogether. Overall it would turn into more of a hassle than anything.
Still, we see that thousands of festivals are springing up all over the place, even if they might end up turning into a colossal failure like Fyre Fest. Many music festivals manage to see success and they have been ongoing for years, attracting tourists from all over.
Pics:
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It's also part of a greater trend in the world in terms of what people spend their money on... we're losing ground in terms of an economy based around ownership of objects and going towards an experientially based economy.
People who might have spent $5,000 on cutting edge art in 1980 now spend $5,000 on yoga retreats in Cambodia. Music and creative "experience" festivals are more expensive because they have become a higher priority in people's lives. We also see that from the perspective of having been vendors at various festivals... booth fees are going up, but sales (of "things") are declining.
social media helps to greatly fuel those 'experience' demands, after all ya 'can't take it with you' right? 😄 it seems there is a broad pref for enjoyment and not so much for preparation
In Jamaica we believe music helps to get any message across, one of the reasons we insist on including a cultural segment and the jam session on a private island at JAHMFEST. Great post!
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This is exactly what ReggaeSteem hopes to accomplish with JAHMFEST. Make Reggae Music thrive!