But, oddly, this new musical ambassador is playing no role at all in Music Week – sponsored by the Music Industry Association of Belize. But, we’d venture to say that MIAB doesn’t really need him with the star studded series of concerts they’ve got lined up for this weekend. We’ll tell you about that shortly, but first to today’s activities. MIAB held a conference to discuss new trends in the global music industry. The discussion was led by Paul Friedlander, a professor from the University of California. He told us how the rise of the internet and the death of the major record labels is good for Belizean artists.

Paul Friedlander,
“For the last 50 years what we people listen to was dictated in this case by four multinational corporations, what artists they hired, and so the whole main stream culture was driven by the tastes of board rooms in four cities. The change has allowed somebody in Belize to put their music online and for me to listen to it in California and for me to love it and enjoy it and buy it on I-Tunes.”

Jules Vasquez,
“Or alternately there is the down side that you can just rip it, steal it off the internet which most of the people who access music online research shows that is what they are doing.”

Paul Friedlander,
“Absolutely, right about 20% of the people in the US are file sharers but remember there has always been free music. When radio came around in the 1950s, the record companies jumped and screamed you are giving it away for free and what they found out was that that was the best marketing they could ever have otherswise how would people listen to their artists. I can tell you an example, about six weeks ago I was listening to Belizean music and I noticed in the newspaper that Umalai and the Garifuna Collective from Dangriga were going to be performing in my town. Yes I could listen to their music for free but when I went down and listened to them and I knew they were going to get the money I bought their CD. That is the music business.

You have a wonderful small industry that is growing and people are coming together that we could have accomplished musicians from Belize making a living making music so the upside is you now have a way to distribute your music. You now have a way to think about people in other countries like Mexico or Honduras Costa Rica, Nicaragua hearing for the first time Belizean music.”

Interestingly, Friedlander says that despite the rise of CD’s and MP3 players, audio cassettes continue to be the number one means of listening to music across the world. He foresees that eventually cell phones will replace those tried and true cassettes. But there won’t be any cassettes rolling over the next three days at the Bliss Center as MIAB rolls out a trio of star studded concerts.

Ivan Duran,
“Three concerts are left. The first one being tonight at the Bliss with Carlos Perrote and Friends. On Saturday we are joined by a good friend of Belize Manuelo Burgon the famous Costa Rica pianist. The grand finale of Music Week will be at Sunday and it will the Brukdong Concert and yesterday was Mr. Peter’s birthday and he turned 79 and we are doing this concert in honour to him as a great Belizean icon and artist.”

The admission for the Friday and Saturday concerts is free for the first 100 people who arrive the rest will pay ten dollars.