TWO veteran reggae booking agents believe demand for Jamaican acts in the United States is at an all-time low.

In recent interviews with the Jamaica Observer, Ric Bracamontes and Marjel McFaddin agreed that a challenging economy and unprofessionalism are the main reasons for this dramatic decline.

REBELUTION… main source of income is constant touring

Bracamontes is head of the American Frontier Touring Company, which is based in Chicago. Since 1998, he has worked with acts like Barrington Levy, Freddie McGregor, Bushman, Michael Rose and Junior Kelly.

McFaddin is principal at Paraiso Productions, out of Los Angeles, which has booked tours for mainly roots performers such as Ras Michael and the Sons of Negus, Bushman and The Rastafarians.

According to Bracamontes, some contemporary reggae artists are not up to date with American music market trends. In many cases, this has resulted in artists overcharging for live shows and turning off promoters.

“Too many times what happens is the artist has some success with a single charting at the top, I’m talking about regional charts or specifically reggae charts,” Bracamontes explained. “They come across some promoter, mostly inexperienced, who pays them a lot of money, and perks, and that taints the artist’s mindset that this is the standard for their value,” he added.

Bracamontes notes that things get sticky when the artist meets a more knowledgeable promoter.

“This value is not the same across the board, it changes from city to city. If an artiste is worth 500 tickets in one city and 1,000 in another, you can’t expect the promoter in the 500-ticket city to pay the same price,” he said.

M c F a d d i n concurs, but says the recession that has affected the US since 2008 and the difficulty of some Jamaican acts to get visas for that country has also hurt. Another key factor, she pointed out, has been the rise of the American reggae band.

“Acts like JBoog, The Green, Rebelution, Groundation and SOJA are selling out big venues. Promoters are going to draw for them first with less hassle, less cost and they are also assured a sell-out crowd,” McFaddin said.

These bands are on par with many Jamaican acts in terms of music sales.

Albums by Rebelution and SOJA have made the Billboard reggae chart but their main source of income is constant touring, especially in college towns.

Like their Jamaican counterparts, these bands play venues of various sizes: from clubs with 200 patrons to festivals which attract audiences of 10,000.

Being on the road benefitted reggae performers like Bob Marley, Burning Spear, Culture and Jimmy Cliff throughout Europe and North America in the 1970s.

Before he took a break in 2000, Spear was still the best touring reggae act.

Based on data from American tour tracker Pollstar, Toots and the Maytals, the Marleys, the Wailers, Steel Pulse and Sizzla have been the most successful road acts of the last five years.

Sean Paul and Shaggy, who scored with platinum albums in the last decade, had sold-out tours based on the success of those discs.

Bracamontes says there is still a market for Jamaican reggae in the US, especially in bigger states like California, Colorado, New York and Florida. There is also a following in college towns in cities such as Boston, Burlington (Vermont), Salt Lake City, Seattle, Portland, Phoenix, Chicago and Columbus, Ohio.

But with promoters feeling the economic pinch and the emergence of homegrown bands, he fears Jamaican acts could also lose ground in those areas.

“With the economy the way it is these days, promoters are more cautious than ever,” he said. “The demand is there for reggae performers but it’s the artists that can turn promoters away when the artist wants to earn more than they are worth.”