« Scorsese to film Bob Marley documentary | Main | Trinidad Carnival 2008: violence leaves five dead »
February 08, 2008
Reggae Explosion Online
By: Joseph Cunningham
The internet is as involved in "Reggae rotation" during Reggae month, as is any radio or television station.
Some of the world's leading Reggae websites are making the access to
Reggae music easy through online music mediums.
VP Records has launched planetreggae.com, an online music store selling MP3s, music videos and ringtones. Along with it is an affiliate programme, that allows anyone to set up a co-branded planetreggae.com store and earn 10 per cent on each item sale.
The online music store will have VP Records' digital reggae music catalogue, including music from Channel One, Joe Gibbs, Penthouse Productions, Techniques, Dynamic Recordings and King Jammy's to name a few. It sells single tracks for US$.99, full album downloads for US$9.99 and videos for US$1.99. Ring tones are likely to be sold for US$1.99, though the price is not yet finalized.
ReggaeID.co.uk, with 42,755 songs and OVER 16,000 albums in its online database, along with a huge and comprehensive list of reggae and dancehall artistes, producers, labels and compilations worldwide, also as a feature where anyone can add information they think useful.
Dancehall.mobi, has taken dancehall and reggae music and made it mobile. The blog and wap (mobile internet) site launched a couple of days ago boasts offering, "dancehall bytes from Jamaica and across the Globe, directly to your cellphone or other internet-enabled mobile device."The owners of the sites explained that Dancehall.Mobi will serve up snippets of dancehall/reggae news from Jamaica and around the globe, and it's done specifically for users of internet enabled cellphones, iPod Touch, iPhone and PDAs.
Riddimz.com an online directory of reggae and dancehall riddims is live and offers track listings and information about the best new and old dancehall riddims, sorted alphabetically and by year of release. The site is not only for the love of the music but it's also about commerce - you can listen to reggae music online, as well as buy and download the albums of your favourite reggae riddims.