Exploitation was one of the issues Ken Boothe touched on when he spoke with the participants of Project Artiste yesterday at the Red Stripe office, Spanish Town Road, Kingston.
The 61-year-old artiste was speaking to the aspiring producers, musicians, writers, managers and performers. He told the group that he started music because of the love he had for the art, but with very little knowledge of the industry.
"I used to sit around at Sir Coxsone Dodd studio waiting for him to call me to record. A lot of the hit songs I did, I did them on hungry belly. With the love of music, yuh not even think bout food," Boothe said.
And, it was because of this love and his lack of knowledge about the industry, which resulted in the level of exploitation he faced throughout his career.
"The amount of money weh out there for me, I wouldn't have to be still singing, only when I feel like, but those people exploit us. A now me just a build my studio, fi show yuh how I was exploited over the years," Boothe said.
But this did not deter his spirits. He said he was approached by Robert Livingston from Big Yard to allow Shaggy to do a remix of his song The Train for Shaggy's 1995 Boombastic album. He was not given much money initially.
However, the remix went on to become one of Boothe's biggest successes as it became the soundtrack for the movie Money Train, from which Boothe said he made millions.
It was at this point that he encouraged the participants to write their own songs. He said he helped to make Everything I Own, which was originally done by David Gates, very popular. However, all the publishing rights and revenues from the song went directly to Gates. He even laughed about the fact that Gates held a dinner party for him to show his appreciation.
"If you don't write a song, don't claim it," Boothe stressed.
Source: Jamaica Star