Reggaeton is a modern genre of music that’s influenced by a mixture of Black, Caribbean and Latino cultures. The genre first emerged in the late 1980’s as “underground music” due to it initially being discovered in clubs throughout Puerto Rico. Often confused with Reggae, Reggaeton is a product of classic Jamaican reggae blended with aspects of dancehall, Spanish Reggae in Panama, Puerto Rican Bomba music, NYC Hip-Hop and Salsa.
Similar to the way Hip-Hop grew to be one of the greatest genres of music, Reggaeton rose to fame amongst younger generations in the club scene that connected to the upbeat rhythms with the heavy bass, and the honest grit of lyrics that reflected life and society for these young people. Similar to Hip-Hop music in the U.S, Reggaeton also at times was a response to the issues in society that these young music fanatics faced firsthand such as racism, poverty and gang violence. While the music remained controversial amongst older generations due to the use of explicit topics and language, it’s been praised by the youth and has become a global phenomenon with headlining artists such as Bad Bunny, Daddy Yankee, Karol G, J. Balvin and more.
Now, one lawsuit has been a looming, imminent threat to basically this entire genre of music.
There’s one song that has been claimed to be a foundation for a good portion of Reggaeton music due to its popular beat that has been sampled consistently in the genre. That song is the 1989 Jamaican track, “Fish Market” by artists, Cleveland “Clevie” Browne and Wycliffe “Steely” Johnson. The song consists of a “dembow” rhythm that Browne and Johnson attested has been used over 2,000 times by other artists.
Around March, Browne and representatives for Johnson (who passed in 2009) filed their first copyright infringement lawsuit, and have since called out over 150 artists for sampling and manipulating the song’s rhythm without copyright permission. They have called out artists such as Bad Bunny, Luis Fonsi, Pitbull and more for copyright infringement. They also are trying to sue American artists as well due to pop music being heavily influenced by Reggaeton in recent times. Justin Bieber is facing a possible lawsuit for his track, “Despacito,” and Drake has also been named in the lawsuit.
For Browne and Johnson representatives, they believe the pair deserves their fair share of credit for helping to produce some of the greatest modern global hits. This includes receiving royalties for the tracks influenced by the “Fish Market” riddim and songwriter credit. They also believe the pair should be acknowledged as some of the greatest influencers of the Reggaeton genre.
Music critics have been keeping this lawsuit on their radar because if Browne and Johnson’s estate win, there could be huge consequences for both Reggaeton and American Pop music. Those pushing back claim this could stifle the creativity of music in the genres. People also argue that Browne and Johnson representatives waited too long to file a lawsuit, copyright infringement on a rhythm isn’t valid enough for a lawsuit and that it’s contradictory to Caribbean music that traditionally disregards copyright laws.
The thing is, back in the 1990’s, Reggaeton wasn’t an economic cash cow like it has been recently in the global music industry. It started off as being music for the streets, so no one-especially in these clubs-necessarily cared about copyright laws, people were just trying to find a vibe. Now with the rise of Reggaeton in the music industry, music corporations are making billions from the genre and I don’t blame Browne and the estate of Johnson for demanding payment for their role in shaping this genre. If I kept hearing my own creation used over and over again on million dollar tracks and I’m not seeing any of those royalties come my way, I would demand for my coin too.
“The underground scene in San Juan [in Puerto Rico] that gave rise to reggaeton was inspired by Jamaica’s sound system tradition of using popular instrumentals to propel new, live, local performances,” says ethnomusicologist Wayne Marshall in an interview with The Guardian. “Once reggaeton becomes one of the most popular genres in the world, producing some of the most lucrative music of the 21st century, it calls into question whether the same creative license should apply to commodities worth millions of dollars.”
If they win, how do you think this could affect the future of music? Also, should rhythms necessarily have the same copyright laws?
Comment your thoughts below!
