Chin laments high cost of dubplates

Legendary sound system operator Chin is sounding the alarm that artistes' high dubplates prices are "wiping out" the culture of sound systems worldwide.

"Dubplate prices are sky-high. The sound system is the gun and the dubplates dem addi bullet, and somebody has to dead at the end addi night; that's the culture we bought into. Now, those same bullets that we depend on, we can't afford. You cannot fix sound system culture until you fix the price for dubplates [because] the culture has dictated that you cannot be a 'bad sound' if you don't have certain dubs," Chin told THE WEEKEND STAR.

"With the dubs so heavily priced, there's no business there because you're collecting all these dubs and you can't get any [booking] dates to pay you back for them. So it now becomes a labour of love and it's eventually killing the business," he added.

Chin called for a return to "that space of camaraderie" where sounds assisted artistes and vice versa.

"I'm not saying artistes should not be getting paid but they can scale their fees based on what the sound systems are earning," he suggested.

When questioned if sound systems and dub requests are still in high demand in this era, Chin said "you cannot be a big, bad sound in this competitive space without having dubs".

"As long as sound systems are competing, there will always be a demand for dubplates; that's the stamp of approval that you're on your way to becoming a star in this competitive space," he said.

He opined that younger sound systems with talented people but no money can't afford the dubplates that they're expected to have to compete.

"The clash industry was mainly built from those dubplates selections - being able to have recordings that made you stand out and become supreme over the other sound systems; so dubs have played a major factor," said the World Clash sound system competition co-founder.

He noted that at the peak of dubplates culture, many artistes did dubplates for a moderate amount of money for the camaraderie or for marketing purposes.

"It was a good thing because artistes found value in sound systems because it was beneficial to them in the earlier days and they respected the culture. So simultaneously the artistes grew, the sounds grew and it fuelled the culture," Chin highlighted. However, he said nowadays, these artistes have flipped the script.

"It's a cash and carry now. Sound systems are now buying a service, the artistes are not looking it as a win for them...The less value you have to the artiste, it's the more price you're gonna have to pay for their dubs. So currently, I don't think these artistes value sound systems as a road to stardom as they did back in the days," he said.

However, DJ Mitri of Full Force Sound said that while artistes might not be producing dubs as they used to, lack of dubs isn't the only thing 'killing' the sound system culture.

"Man nuh really love guh pon sound again because if the sound nuh play yuh naah guh get no money. So if it's not paying you every weekend or the owner not gonna give you a money every weekend, even if him nuh play, it nuh mek sense yuh go pon no sound," DJ Mitri said. As a result, he said most deejays are now travelling with their laptops when booked and play on the systems provided at the event.

DJ Mitri said that although he is a member of a sound system, it allows him flexibility as some sounds limit DJs' creativity and cash flow.

"If yuh deh pon certain sounds now, yuh cyaah play at no other event, yuh affi play wid dem straight. Das why most man just duh dem owna thing, build fi dem name and nuh guh pon no sound because it kinda limit yuh," he explained. "Some sounds when signing you, give you an agreement for you to read and sign to follow their terms, like a real nine-to-five work."