If dancehall is dead, do this instead...

WHILE Jamaican musicians can rely on live performances here and abroad to earn a living, their record sales – culturally prone to piracy – are virtually dead. Vybez Kartel, one of the island's most popular deejays, reportedly sold just eight albums stateside in the first week of his newly released 'Pon di Gaza'.

Dylan Powe of Prodigal Entertainment is far from anti-dancehall, after all it's his family soundsystem, Swatch International, which runs the weekly Passa Passa dance in Tivoli Gardens. However, his background hasn't stopped Powe from appreciating the grim reality of the local recording industry, typified by Kartel's sales figures.

Far from it.

Natalie Storm (left) and Dylan Powe

"Chris Blackwell saw it with Island records and I've seen it but everyone here's still trying to mine the same dry well," said Powe, standing outside his studio on Constant Spring Road. "Look at Kartel and his album. People here don't have credit cards but Nats has a web presence, and fans who DO!"

Nats is Powe's artist, Natalie Storm, who he has been working as her manager and producer since late 2006. By his estimation an eventual Storm album would sell significantly more than eight copies in her first week, having developed an international following with performances in the United States and a growing network of hipster producers from other genres like club, grime and dubstep in Europe.

"I'll still do hardcore dancehall out of straight love and fun but my mental investment is just no longer in that world," said Powe who entered the business as an an A&R at Atlantic Records in the mid-1990's where he signed the likes of Dawn Penn and Garnet Silk.

As he said, Storm has built up a strong web presence outside of Jamaica. Collaborations have introduced her to fans of those other genres and producers including: Toddla-T, Skream, Graham Sinden and Heatwave from the United Kingdom; Austin Leeds, Max Glazer, Stretch Armstrong, Dre Skull and 77klash from the United States; Wildlife from Switzerland; Tim Turbo from Germany and Denmark's platinum-selling Enur.

"Even though we haven't had a real hit yet we're cool with those markets because we've done hardcore dancehall and we've now got an underground following out there. Here in Jamaica we're the only people messing with global bass culture and the root of all that stuff is Jamaica anyway."

And as he suggests, the relationship works both ways, with international producers wanting to borrow the Jamaican flavour, specifically Storm's vocals. And as she explains, the decision to go this route is driven not just by commercial considerations but simply, creativity:

"I love it. You get to be so much freer, much more expressive with stuff like this because the markets you are doing this for you can say what you want but not here in Jamaica – people are too stuck up."

Source: Nielsen SoundScan via DancehallUSA

Storm was born in rural Jamaica (in Usain Bolt's parish of Trelawny). Like most Jamaicans she grew up on a diet of international pop and hardcore reggae. Her love of 80's dance music and especially female icons Madonna, Grace Jones, Cyndi Lauper has clearly influenced her sound and the way she and Powe craft their sound.

"What we are trying to do is to make global music, nuff nuff reggae influences but the Prodigal sound is really hardcore international bashment," explains Powe. "However we doan' care about what its called as long as it makes people feel and move to to it."

Specifically they're aiming for the European market where Powe believes the market is more receptive to his experimentation with Storm.

"Europe is where it is for me. Europe is much more open for where we want to be. In America you're either urban or white whereas in Europe, it's just music," he said.

One of the tunes to be released is Storm's cover of 'Should I Stay or Should I Go', produced by Wildlife. Fittingly it was originally a hit for 1970s London punk band The Clash – themselves influenced by Jamaica.

Natalie Storm on MySpace