ABSTRACT
In this chapter, Dennis O. Howard provides an enlightened ethnographic insider view of Jamaican popular culture through the lens of the recording industry and the in/secure gatekeeping practices that both promote and restrict the development and emergence of creative talent in Kingston’s music studios. His sociological approach highlights some key issues within Jamaica’s recording industry which negate the established creative class and creative city theoretical frameworks wherein “a peaceful and conflict-free environment are prerequisites for their sustainability” (p.). Howard demonstrates the resilience of Jamaican cultural and creative expression through those individuals who negotiate the in/secure line between visibility and invisibility, success and failure, production and acceptance. Howard ultimately lays bare a range of threats to the growth and development of both Jamaican artists and the country’s hit-making machinery on the global market scene and explains how these threats are managed.
