Avia Collinder, Business Reporter

On Love Lane in Jones Town, Kingston, young men attached to the Triple L recording studio have plans to earn some J$5 million this year from the release of an album, Shaddup and Lissen, and an already created rhythm - the Five Series.

They hope that a combination of new and 'name-brand' artistes will - in their parlance - stamp their flavour on the music to ensure the album's success.

Officially launched on January 23, 2008, Triple L received financing through a grant of $400,000 from the Culture, Health, Arts, Sports and Education Fund (CHASE), a state institution financed by gambling and gaming fees.

With this, a small building was constructed, where two sound engineers are in command of the basic equipment in use.

Projected income

Projected income is modest compared to what chart-topping artistes are taking home annually.

According to the Jamaica Music Commission, a unit of Jamaica Trade and Invest, music publishing can be lucrative, as money is generated each time a song is used, whether in whole or in part.

There are 12 possible streams of income issuing from copyright ownership of the product.

The industry has been affected by the ongoing recession and problems of piracy, but the Triple L group believes it can still make an impression and collect from its efforts.

Orville Stoddard, head of Triple L, says he is actively pursuing the safeguarding of copyright and publishing rights through the Jamaica Association of Composers Authors and Music (JACAP) as well as ASCAP - a membership association of United States-based composers, songwriters, lyricists and music publishers that, through agreements with affiliated international societies, represents music creators worldwide.

Starting January 2010, Triple L plans to release one single every two months.

Vanus James, author of The Economic Contribution of Copyright-Based Industries in Jamaica, published August 2007, estimates that there are as many as 200 recording studios, with many being run as one-person operations.

In 2005, income from the manufacture of audio and video records and other recorded or taped music was said by James to have reached J$31 million.

Total industry earnings

However, a more recent assessment of total industry earnings by the Planning Institute of Jamaica put international earnings from music by Jamaican artistes at US$1 billion annually.

That US$1 billion translates to J$89 billion at current conversion rates.

World-class performers com-mand high individual income and high sales internationally coming from the music of Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff, Beres Hammond, Beenie Man, Shaggy, Sean Paul, Ziggy Marley, Damien Marley and Patra.

According to Forbes Maga-zine, the estate of Bob Marley earns US$6 million each year, with his total catalogues valued at US$100 million.

The Five Series rhythm owned by Triple L can be heard at www.myspace/tripleLrecords.

The artistes all reside in or near Love Lane, Jones Town, where the studio has been established.

Stoddard's musical career

The label was founded by Stoddard in the United States in 2003 where he had begun his musical career as a 'gangsta reggae rapper' in the streets of South Side, Jamaica, in Queens.

He recorded eight songs with partner Shawn Duncan. Since returning to Jamaica, Stoddard has adopted the name Phaze Kryme.

Stoddard says Triple L possesses a full roster of artistes, whose sounds currently include smooth urban poetry, reggae, rap, hip hop, R&B and soul.

Triple L Records, the company, has recognised and awarded over 30 community builders, among them educators and pastors, for outstanding community service.

Marketing assistant, Kingston-based social worker Fabian Mitchell, who has adopted the group, said the studio needs equipment, such as head sponges and amplifiers, but is still able to produce good-quality recordings.

avia.collinder@gleanerjm.com