A new music streaming service Selecta Charts will be Barbados’ first to stream music for free. The platform, which is the brainchild of founder and creator Paul Husbands, was an idea that came to fruition after attending a Canadian cultural festival, which explored the popularity of soca music access in the country, he said. Husbands said after the national Crop Over festival, soca music dies down.
“During the group discussion, the representatives were shocked to hear that in Barbados we only focus on soca during Crop Over in the summer, instead of year round,” he said. “They noted this as an area to be remedied and spoke about how Canada pushes their artists on the radio and at local events all year round. This really resonated with me, as I had shared those same thoughts for quite some time.”
He said that Barbadians have been waiting for a service such as Selecta Charts to support their artists.
“Music listeners, particularly in Barbados, are mostly looking forward to seeing growth in our local music industry with the launch,” he said. “There is so much talent in Barbados and artists deserve an outlet with a big audience and Selecta Charts was designed to be just that.”
And he said people were already buzzing about it, highly anticipating it.
“Users are really looking forward to discovering new artists and new local music, with many local artists making their mainstream debut on Selecta Charts,” said Husbands.
Fans also will not be the only ones to enjoy the platform.
“There will be many benefits for artists on Selecta Charts. The top-streamed artists will receive royalties by our local Music Royalty Agency, COSCAP — who we are working with — once the artists are signed up with them,” he said. “Artists will have access to statistics for all of their music, a Weekly Top 10 Charts, news updates, the option to upload their own music and new features that will be added overtime. Users will also be able to find and follow their favourite artists on social media through our Artist Page. Selecta Charts will be a pioneering moment in the history of our island, as this will be the first time a music streaming service of this magnitude has been attempted in Barbados. So artists will be involved in making Barbadian history when we launch on Saturday, April 8.”
