Music producer and talent manager Romeich Major has spoken out against the ban from the airwaves on songs about guns, molly and scamming, saying the regulations on music are too strict in Jamaica.

The ban was announced today (October 11) by the Broadcasting Commission and is expected to take immediate effect.

In an Instagram post shortly after the announcement, Major said he agrees this type of music should not be glorified, but that Jamaica cannot continue to ban its own music.

“We can’t stop the creatives (artistes) from singing about what they see around them or grew around.
Jamaica has one of the strictest regulations against music, OUR OWN DANCEHALL MUSIC and what is to be played,” said Major.

According to the Broadcasting Commission, the ban is being put in place to protect children from indulging in music glorifying illegal actives.

However, Major believes that this will not be effective.

“There are strict regulations against anything sexual (even edited) being played on local radio because children listen to radio. Is Jamaica the only country that has children? Because the same children listen to these same songs elsewhere,” he argued.

He added that this would force local artistes to take their business to other platforms, causing local radio stations to lose revenue.

“Since you want everything off of radio, what if promoters stop spending money on radio? ‘Cause at this rate no one will be listening to radio soon. Because all that will be on radio is international music ONLY so promoters won’t need to advertise there,” he said.

READ: BCJ orders ban from airwaves of songs glorifying illegal activity