Jeeni Blog

Helping the next generation of talent to build a global fanbase

Weekly Round-Up #9

/ By Doug Phillips
Weekly Round-Up #9

The latest developments and additions to Jeeni’s mission! 

New Content Contributed to Jeeni’s Database of Talent! 

New and exciting content is always being added to Jeeni’s library and the past two weeks have not been an exception.  

Award-winning rock-star, Eden James has added two more tracks from his extensive rock discography to Jeeni’s database. ‘Don’t Give Up’ and a live performance of ‘Bad Girl’ are now available on Jeeni. 

Three new artists to Jeeni have also been uploading new music this week. Hip-hop and electronic collective, Ace Bermuda have uploaded their debut single, ‘WTF Is Ace Bermuda’, as has brand-new Jeeni artist, Julience with his track, ‘Alcohol’. Alana Sukul has also put forward five new additions to Jeeni, including her newest track, ‘Good To You’ and her hit track, ‘Closer’. 

Jeeni regulars have also been contributing exciting new music such as Zeeteah’s brilliant ‘Wat A Ting’, Nnaomi’s ‘Hate Me’ and Maple Sky’s ‘Vision’, all three of which have been reviewed and published onto Jeeni’s blog page: https://jeeni.com/blog/ .  

Here are more details about the blogs we’ve published in the last two weeks. 

Six new reviews for Jeeni artists’ newest projects have been published since our last Weekly Round-Up!  

Jeeni published a full review of Nnaomi’s incredible new single, ‘Hate Me’, “Nnaomi evokes even more emotion and sentiment with her swirling, impactful and atmospheric new single, ‘Hate Me’”. Read the full review here: https://jeeni.com/blog/nnaomi-hate-me-single-review-blog-jeeni/  

Listen to ‘Hate Me’ here: https://jeeni.com/nnaomi-hate-me/  

Also, this week, Jeeni ambassador, Zeeteah Massiah released the playful yet important, ‘Wat A Ting’, “Zeeteah’s newest single is a brilliant, tongue-in-cheek poke at misinformation and its relentless spreading, all the while being a dancehall banger in its own right.” Read the full review here: https://jeeni.com/blog/zeeteah-massiah-wat-a-ting-single-review/  

‘Wat A Ting’ is available on Jeeni here: https://jeeni.com/wat-a-ting-zeeteah-massiah/?channel=zeeteah- 

Released last Saturday, “Maple Sky broaden their sound once more with this explosive, brand-new funk banger, named ‘Vision’”. Read the full review here: https://jeeni.com/blog/maple-sky-vision-single-review/  

Check out the jazz quartet’s newest single here: https://jeeni.com/vision-maple-sky/?channel=maple-sky&rtn=btasc&artist=maple-sky  

Multi-instrumentalist and folk singer, Daisy Chute blessed the Jeeni library of talent with her newest EP, ‘Cradle Songs’. “Daisy Chute’s newest EP consists of three sonic fairytales, crafted with swelling strings, twinkling percussion and her bewitching vocals.” Read the full review here: https://jeeni.com/blog/daisy-chute-cradle-songs-ep-review/ 

Listen to Daisy’s new EP here: https://jeeni.com/cradle-song-daisy-chute/?channel=daisy-chute&rtn=btasc&artist=daisy-chute-2  

Another review published to Jeeni this week was for Nigerian/British rapper, I K 8OY’s debut single, ‘Let You Know’, “Stirring together afroswing with tuneful rapping, the first official release from I K 8OY is a shimmering and glossy UK hip-hop achievement.” Read the full review here: https://jeeni.com/blog/i-k-8oy-let-you-know-single-review/  

Listen to I K 8OY’s debut single here: https://jeeni.com/let-you-know-i-k-8oy/  

And finally, a review of yet another debut was published this Monday for Ace Bermuda’s ‘WTF Is Ace Bermuda’. “If the elusive, grand and electrifying Ace Bermuda were a TV show, ‘WTF Is Ace Bermuda’ would be their theme song. The collective’s first official release perfectly encapsulates the group’s innovative intentions and collaborative nature.” Read the full review here: https://jeeni.com/blog/ace-bermuda-wtf-is-ace-bermuda-feat-jada-freeman-profiiit-single-review/  

Check out the collective’s debut here: https://jeeni.com/wtf-is-ace-bermuda/?channel=ixohnlybtrod&rtn=btasc&artist=ace-bermuda  

Calling All Graduates Looking for Work, Jeeni Officially Partners with Gradfuel to Create 654 New Jobs!

Among the 654 new roles available across England include; 116 sales positions, with a focus in London, Manchester and remote situations, 143 roles in Marketing, also for people based in London, Manchester or remote, 118 hospitality roles particularly in London and Birmingham, 121 admin positions focused on remote and London. There are also 31 roles for those specialised in graphic design such as Photoshop and Adobe for remote and London-based applicants. IT and data have 81 roles for London-based and remote situations and finally, there are 25 roles in finance, also for London and remotely working applicants. 

Check out our full blog on Jeeni’s partnership with Gradfuel: https://jeeni.com/blog/calling-all-graduates-looking-for-work-jeeni-officially-partners-with-gradfuel-to-create-654-new-jobs/  

Reach out to the Jeeni marketing team at doug@jeeni.com or ella@jeeni.com.  

Make sure you’re following us on social media to keep up to date with new releases from our artists, our blogs and any job openings.  

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeenimusic/   

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jeenimusic   

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jeenimusic   

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/33222018/admin/ 

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Barrington Levy performing with 16 global acts. JAM Festival 10 April 2021.

05
Apr

Barrington Levy performing with 16 global acts. JAM Festival 10 April 2021.

One of the great success stories of the 80’s, arrived on the dancehall scene and swiftly remodelled it in his own image. Although numerous DJ’s and vocalist would rise and fall during this decade, Levy was one of the few with staying power, and he continued releasing massive hits well into the 90’s. Born in Kingston, Jamaica, as a youngster, Barrington Levy formed the Mighty Multitude with his cousin Everton Dacres. They started off playing the sound systems and cut their first single, “My Black Girl,” in 1977. All of 14, Levy broke out his own the next year and recorded his debut solo single, A Long Time Since We Don’t Have No Love.” It didn’t have much of an impact, however, the teen’s appearances in the dancehalls were eagerly awaited events. It was at one of these that Levy met former singer turned producer Junjo Lawes and New York-based producer Hyman “Jah Life” Wright. The pair took the youth into King Tubby’s studio, accompanied by the Roots Radics, and recorded a clutch of cuts. The first fruits of this union were “Ah Yah We Deh,” quickly followed by “Looking My Love”, and “ Wedding Ring Aside.” Success was immediate, but it was the mighty “Collie Weed” that really cemented the teen’s hold of dancehall.“Shine Eye Girl”, was a smash follow up, and the young Levy was now in great demand. A stream of singles followed “Jumpy Girl”, a lovely version of Horace Andy’s “Skylarking”, “Reggae Music”, Levy joined forces with producer Alvin Ranglin for another sting of hits—“Never Tear My Love Apart,” “Jah”, “You Made Me So Happy,” and “When You’re Young and in Love.”Levy’s rich vocals were made for duets, both with other vocalists and DJ’s, and it wasn’t long before the young star was also recording collaborative singles. Toyan was a great foil on “Call You on the Phone”, he paired with Jah Thomas on “Moonlight Lover” and “Sister Debby”, and joined forces with Trinity for “Lose Respect” and a follow-up, “I Need a Girl” in 1980. That same year, Levy made a sensational appearance at Reggae Sunsplash, then returned in 1981. During these early years, the singer seemingly spent all of his time between the recording studios and the dancehalls. Amidst the deluge of singles, four albums arrived as well between 1979 and 1980. First up was Bounty Hunter, which boasted three smash singles—“Reggae Music”, “Shine Eye Girl”, and “Looking My Love” –and a clutch of other tracks that were just about as good. In Britain, the Burning Sounds label released Shine Eye Gal, also a hits heavy package which included the title track-track, “Collie Weed”, and “Ah Yah We Deh.” It was swiftly followed by the mighty Englishman, an absolutely fabulous record which was overseen by the unbeatable studio grouping of Junjo Lawes and two of King Tubby’s protégés—Scientist and Prince Jammy. A veteran of the clubs, he brought the spontaneity of the DJ to his records while returning vocals back to the sound system scene which had been purely the realm of the Djs.Utilizing old roots rhythms revitalized by the Radics, and giving the songs a hard, but danceable edge, Lawes and Levy together helped establish a whole new dancehall sound.1980’s Robin Hood merely affirmed that everyone in Jamaica already knew: That Levy was now the biggest star on the island, with a talent that was unbeatable. Or more accurately, he was king of the singers, because ruling beside him was DJ Yellowman, another Lawes’ discovery, that was brought to him by Barrington Levy. Robin Hood was as big as its predecessor and was beginning to have an impact in Britain as well, where both it and Englishman had been released by the Greensleeves label. Not surprisingly, both albums heavy rhythms would provide the building blocks for the Scientist V Prince Jammy dub clash album. Unfortunately, Levy’s very popularity was now beginning to have some serious drawbacks. Even before stardom arrived, the singer had noticed with delight fans taping his sets at the dancehalls, and these tapes were coming back to haunt him. Suddenly, the shelves were buckling under the weight of the bootlegged albums, featuring not just older pirated live material, but also unreleased outtakes and recycled older singles. In response, Levy didn’t release a new album for two years, but in the meantime, new singles more than made up for it. From 1980 came such hits as the haunting Lawes-produced “Mary Long Tongue” producer Linval Thompson’s “Too Poor,” and a string if hits cut with Karl Pitterson, including “ I Have a Problem” and “Even Tide Fire a Disaster”. And as the decade progressed, the flood hits continued. “I’m Not in Love”, “You Have It”, “Tomorrow Is Another Day”, “Robberman”, “BlackRose” “My Women”, and “Money Move” were just a small number of the hits released between 1981 and 1983, with the latter song the biggest smash of the batch. Levy even tried his hand at self-production, recording such excellent songs as “In the Dark” and “Love of Jah.” Amongst there were fabulous singles recorded for Joe Gibbs, “My Women” included.1983 finally saw the release of Levy album “Money Move”. The latter was excellently overseen by George Phang and boasted a stupendous group of rhythms that Sly & Robbie had specifically made for the producer. In the U.K, the burning sounds label also released Hunter Man, a greatest-hits collection. But the hits were still coming on strong; in 1984 none were bigger than Levy and Jah Screw produced “Under Mi Sensi.” The pair would also record a new album that year, Here I Come, whose title track would the top 50 in the U.K The album itself took Britain by storm and ensured that Levy walked away with the Best Vocalist Award at Britain’s Reggae Awards. It was also these songs that secured his spot in the Guinness Book of World Records, as the first reggae artist to hold both 1st and 2nd place slots in the charts. The same year, the singer also joined forces with another young singer who was tearing up the dance floors, Frankie Paul, for the intriguing sound clash set Barrington Levy meets Frankie Paul. 1985 brought Prison Oval Rock (the Volcano Jamaican label release, and not to be confused with the RAS label’s U.S. compilation of the same title), which found the singer joining forces with Lawes again, for another roots-fired set equal to its predecessors. It had been six years since Levy burst onto the scene with all the force of a nuclear weapon. Now in his early twenties, the singer’s output significantly began to slow. He did return to Reggae Sunsplash in 1987 and would remain a top attraction at the festival until 1985. He also released “Love the Life you Live” in 1988, a rather patchy effort compared to previous releases. It was to be his last new album until 1991. But Levy wasn’t a spent force yet. Before the ’80s were over, he scored two more hits with “My Time” and “Too Experience”, both under the aegis of producer Jah Screw, and both covers of songs written by Bob Andy (ex-Paragons and also of Bob & Marcia fame).Signing with MCA in the U.S., Levy attempted to cross over into the North American market with 1983’s Barrington. Produced by Lee Jaffe, the album featured a re-recorded “Under Mi Sensi”, and boasted strong songs as “Murderer” and “Vice Versa Love” and “Be Strong”, a major hit in the Caribbean and South America. However, the relationship with MCA was not a happy one and Levy quickly departed. Meanwhile, back in Britain, the singer was chalking up another hit with “Work”. In 1994, Levy was joined by Beenie man on the singles “Two Sounds” and “Murderer”. Both soon reappeared as fiery jungles remixes. Barrington will also be performing in the JAM Festival, which is a collaboration between Jeeni, AmplifyX and MultiView Media and will be held at 12 noon Los Angeles time, 8 pm London time on Saturday, April 10th 2021. To find out more about the JAM Festival check out our events on Facebook. https://fb.me/e/1etPauFMV

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Is the virus an opportunity for us to evolve and come out of it better than before?

05
Jun

Is the virus an opportunity for us to evolve and come out of it better than before?

The industry is being very responsive and coming up with lots of ideas, like allowing artists to keep earning by adding donate buttons on streaming platforms. Some organisations are making grants available, some are discounting their streaming platforms, whereas others are allowing artists and fans to sign up for free. We expect to see many online services partnering with one another to combine their overall membership offerings, such as Soundcloud and Twitch. And we are very interested to see what the major global companies do and how they respond to these new and unknown market conditions. Musicians, performers, artists comedians and several actors are using social media to engage wit their fans like never before. https://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/18361081.stars-social-media-help-lift-spirits/ Many performers are moving their live show to Facebook Live and while many artists have given lessons before in person, most have never given an online lesson. Since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, Zoom, a video calling app, has been downloaded 50 million times on the Google Play Store alone according to BBC. https://thriveglobal.com/stories/how-musicians-can-advance-their-careers-despite-covid-19/ Apple Music is quietly making a $50m advance fund avilable for independent labels and distributors, to support the indie sector with vital cashflow during the uncertainty of global COVID-19 lock-down. https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/apple-music-launches-50m-advance-fund-for-independent-labels-hit-by-covid-19-impact/ Even famous musicians like Chris Martin of Coldplay, Hunter Hayes, Keith Urban, and Backstreet Boys have already performed or are scheduled to perform online performances as most concerts have been canceled. James Naleski, a musician and social media marketer who’s trained under songwriter Azara and interned under Grammy-award winner Will Champlin, believes this is the perfect opportunity for musicians to branch out and expand their following. When asked about the current situation musicians are coming face to face with, Naleski responded, “Now more than ever, it is important for people, especially artists and musicians to stay connected while we are all quarantined. Various musicians are doing an exceptional job of using their platforms and live videos to relate to their fans. In particular, Hunter Hayes has begun streaming-live high-quality concerts on YouTube to help people stay united.” For most people stuck at home during this time, it’s been the perfect time to finally get back into home studios and produce. Some of the greatest artists wrote masterpieces while in isolation. When The Beatles were coming to an end, Paul McCartney hid himself in his St John’s Wood house in London, where he wrote and recorded his solo album, McCartney, by himself. It was in this period of isolation that he wrote one of his greatest songs of all time, “Maybe I’m Amazed” as a tribute to his wife Linda at the time. Bon Iver wrote his debut album, For Emma, Forever Ago while alone in a cabin. Prince wrote Dirty Mind, Stevie Wonder wrote Innervisions, and Steve Winwood wrote Arc of a Diver in isolation. Tyler Donahue, Founder at Aessential Store states that: "While many creatives are concerned with where their next paycheck is going to come from, others are beginning to take advantage of the forced isolation of COVID-19. By transforming your live shows into Facebook live shows, offering music lessons, and stepping back into the studio for intentional, dedicated production time, you can come out ahead of this virus better than you entered". How practical these ideas are in real terms, only time will tell, and we will keep an eye out for scams, as in this very sad and challenging time it’s inevitable that many will try to profit from COVID – 19, by introducing unethical and downright crooked practices. We are making it our mission to name and shame projects and organisations that are under scrutiny and suspect, and encourage our members to do the same. The Independent Musicians and Performers Community powered by Jeeni is for everyone and anyone creative: musicians, voice-artists, performers, poets, singer-songwriters ... hey, the list is endless. We aim to connect, collaborate, share and support each other, while we have fun and make a real difference. Come and join us today https://www.facebook.com/groups/2529935880656436/about/

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Legendary Teddy Hayes has joined the Jeeni advisory board

04
Jun

Legendary Teddy Hayes has joined the Jeeni advisory board

We are proud to announce that the legendary Teddy Hayes has joined the Jeeni advisory board. Teddy is an Award-winning producer, film-maker and composer, working alongside the likes of Quincy Jones and Roberta Flack. Teddy pioneered the concept of creating new wealth for music artists by monetizing their fan base. His London-based talent company DaBlockOnline offered a win-win solution for everyone involved in the entertainment industry, creating a platform that gave both signed and unsigned music talent a chance to benefit from new technology. Teddy says, "The evolution of Jeeni is remarkable, and because I have already been through this process and experienced all the challenges, I know I can add value to the team. I want artists to get the recognition they deserve and earn cash in the process, but I also want to offer an opportunity for music companies to retool their thinking and create new products designed to increase sales and earn profits from a new segment of the marketplace.” Teddy Hayes Born in Cleveland Ohio, Teddy grew up with neighbour Bobby Womack, and hung out with Quincy Jones among many other music legends, before becoming tour manager for Roberta Flack. Quincy’s friend Pete Long (who discovered Luther Vandross), gave Teddy the chance to turn his talents to theatre writing which set him on the road to stardom in his own right, directing music videos, and writing and producing musical theatre. As one of the founding directors of Hip Hop in 1979 in New York, he achieved a place in hip hop history with his rap band The Funky Constellation, that produced the break beat sensation “Street Talk (Madam rapper)” promoted early on by Russell Simmons, the record mogul and creator of Def Jam Records. An accomplished singer and composer, Teddy was the main producer and creative force behind the sell-out hit theatre show “I Remember Marvin”, about the life and music of Marvin Gaye. He recently penned a book called “The Guerrilla Guide to Being a Theatrical Producer”, a how to manual designed to help people understand and enter the world of commercial theatre.  In 2019 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award for his 40 years of pioneering work in the arts, and Jeeni is privileged to benefit from his experience and vision.

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