{"id":806327,"date":"2020-04-13T09:00:44","date_gmt":"2020-04-13T15:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=982332"},"modified":"2020-04-13T09:00:44","modified_gmt":"2020-04-13T15:00:44","slug":"protoje-announces-label-deal-with-rca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/music-news\/protoje-announces-label-deal-with-rca\/","title":{"rendered":"Protoje Announces Label Deal With RCA"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Jamaican singer Protoje, who is intent on bringing the fervor of classic reggae<\/a> to contemporary streamers, announced a new deal with RCA on Monday. The company will throw its weight behind Protoje\u2019s label In.Digg.Nation, supporting the singer\u2019s own music along with that of two other artists he has signed, Sevana and Lila Ik\u00e9.<\/span><\/p>\n

While these deals are common in the American market, they are a rarity for Jamaican acts. \u201cI still get to run my own label, have a certain level of creative control, but have support from a major,\u201d Protoje says. \u201cThis was always something I\u2019ve wanted to do.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Protoje is the latest Jamaican act to reach a deal with a major, part of a wave of pairings in the last 18 months: <\/span>Roc Nation with Buju Banton, Interscope with the producer Rvssian and the singer Shenseea, Columbia UK with Koffee, Atlantic UK with Stalk Ashley. The signings are another indication that the largest record companies are gradually acknowledging that contemporary pop is more global than it has ever been, and that a hit from Kingston, Medellin, S\u00e3o Paolo, or Lagos might be every bit as potent as a track manufactured by committee in L.A. <\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cPeople are more open to new music, and a lot of what\u2019s been pushed on the more popular playlists is starting to sound a little redundant,\u201d says Archie Davis, CEO of Six Course Media Group and svp of marketing for RCA. (Protoje\u2019s deal is with both Six Course and RCA). \u201cWe need to shake that up a little bit,\u201d Davis continues. \u201cThere\u2019s an opportunity similar to how reggaeton was niche for a while [for parts of the American market] and then took on this holistic pop approach, same with afrobeats. I feel it\u2019s that time for reggae.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Protoje founded In.Digg.Nation in 2014. \u201cI needed a way to get my music out,\u201d he says, \u201cand I thought the best thing was to try to build my own thing.\u201d He signed Sevana in 2015 \u2014 \u201cI heard her sing a cover of Amy Winehouse\u2019s \u2018Back to Black\u2019 and I physically reacted, my body had lots of goosebumps\u201d \u2014 and Ik\u00e9 two years later: \u201cI\u2019ve never heard anything like her style out of Jamaica.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Linking his operation with RCA provides two advantages. \u201cIt puts you in better position to get in certain rooms,\u201d Protoje explains. \u201cI just went and did a session with Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz, and that was those guys who set it up.\u201d In addition, the label deal \u201cgives you an equal platform to get your songs out there\u201d next to other acts who benefit from major-label marketing campaigns. <\/span><\/p>\n

The first release under the new partnership between In.Digg.Nation, Six Course, and RCA will be Ik\u00e9\u2019s \u201cI Spy\u201d single on Thursday, followed by an EP in May. Sevana and Protoje also plan to release new music later in the summer. In Jamaica, \u201cI\u2019ve heard three Lila records back to back to back on the radio and then two Protoje records,\u201d Davis says. \u201cThe excitement about this music just has to travel here.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

via:: Rolling Stone<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Jamaican singer Protoje, who is intent on bringing the fervor of classic reggae to contemporary streamers, announced a new deal with RCA on Monday. The company will throw its weight behind Protoje\u2019s label In.Digg.Nation, supporting the singer\u2019s own music along with that of two other artists he has signed, Sevana and Lila Ik\u00e9. While […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-806327","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-14 07:07:39","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=806327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806327\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=806327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=806327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=806327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}