Caribbean Song Writing Camp Held In Barbados

The Caribbean creative industry has the potential to fully integrate into the global pop and urban markets with the support of the Caribbean Export Development Agency (Caribbean Export).

This was revealed at a press conference held during a Songwriting Camp hosted by Caribbean Export in collaboration with Island/Def Jam Records and Caribbean 2 World (C2W) Music Limited. The week-long camp, hosted at the Bougainvillea Beach Resort, Barbados, was a combined initiative of Caribbean Export and C2W in partnership with the US record label, Island/Def Jam, and served as part of Agency's greater mandate for the region's creative industries.

"Caribbean Export's commitment to the Songwriting Camp -- and similar initiatives -- is just the beginning of what the Agency plans to roll out over the coming months. And we see ourselves in the ideal position to aid in the facilitation of fully harnessing and utilizing the commercial viability of the industry, as well as increase its export potential," commented David Gomez, senior advisor on market intelligence.

"This is further demonstrated in the Agency's establishment of a unit dedicated to the continued development of the Caribbean creative industries," Gomez concluded.

Under the direction of Max Goose, Senior Vice President of Island/Def Jam Records, Ivan Berry and Derek Wilkie (C2W), several local and regional songwriters, artistes and producers were paired with internationally renowned counterparts. The cadre of professionals included: Rob Wells - multi-platinum, award-winning songwriter/producer; Jeremih - Def Jam recording artiste/producer; Sham - songwriter/producer; and Corey Chorus - artiste/songwriter.

The Camp, which was supported by the European Union's (EU) 10th Economic Development Fund (EDF) Regional Private Sector Development Programme, ran from January 9 - 13, 2012