Bounty Killer Talks About Being The One Who Made ‘Dubplates’ a Lucrative Business for Artistes – Watch Interview
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March 30, 2023
As one of dancehall’s longstanding veterans, Bounty Killer has influenced the culture of the genre and future artistes in various aspects. In the recently aired fifth part of his interview with I Never Knew Tv Bounty discussed his role in turning dubplates into a lucrative business.
Bounty said that he was simply at the right place and time when the evolution of dubplates began. He explained that initially, deejays would perform with the sound systems but began migrating, thus forcing sound system selectors to record them on dubplates.
The recording of the dubplate, Dub Fi Dub, was a great launching pad for the artiste during his early career before he had established a name for himself. Bounty recorded Dub Fi Dub for the Metromedia Sound System, an opportunity he gained through his friendship with sound engineer Prento.
Prento encouraged Bounty and his fellow burgeoning entertainers Boom Dandimite and Harry Toddler to record on the two remaining slots that were short on a dubplate for Metromedia. Though he would not get paid, Bounty jumped at the opportunity and recorded the dubplate, but he did not believe that it would be selected by Metromedia for play.
With no social media and the limitations of technology in the 90s, the Hip-Hopera deejay was unaware of the success of the dubplate until word of mouth reached back to him. He gained notoriety in the sound system community, and his career began to accelerate.
Bounty said that with the success of his following singles, such as Copper Shot, he could request whatever price he wanted for dubplates. Dubplates created a new lucrative subdivision of the music industry for artistes that Bounty and future generations could benefit from.
“The first time we get pay fi a dub, it was $200 [ … ] When yuh have one song well maybe yuh nuh have nuh bidding powa, but if I have ten hit song, you can’t tell me what to charge. So it’s from there we start to put a lickkle price on dubplates,” Bounty stated.
Watch the video below.
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