RVRB X 2023 – Putting Trinidad and Tobago’s music industry In Sync

The days are gone when one would ask a friend to use their music in a film or other content without any monetary reward, CEO of CreativeTT John Arnold said.

He raised this and other matters at the launch of the 2023 RVRB Experience (RVRB X) music conference being hosted by the Trinidad and Tobago Music Company Ltd.

The launch took place at the Brix Hotel, Coblentz Avenue, Port of Spain, on Monday. The three-day music conference will be held from July 5-7 at the Brix Autograph Collection.

Arnold along with MusicTT’s general manager Melissa Jimenez and the Ministry of Trade and Industry permanent secretary Ayleen Alleyne-Ovid spoke to what audiences can expect at this year’s music conference.

RVRB Experience was first held in 2021.

This year’s theme is In Sync and focuses on the synchronisation of local music in film.

Sync (or synchronisation) is a process where songs are combined with moving images – film, TV series, adverts, video games, trailers etc. Sync deals are usually arranged between a music publisher and a prospective client, which is normally a music supervisor or a film producer,” UK Anara Publishing said on its website.

The company offers solutions for independent songwriters around the world to have music publishing and sync licensing representation, the website said.

Arnold said, “I think this conference is important because it is really about letting people understand the days are gone when you did a favour for me by having my music used and tell me you’re giving me a bligh…”

He thinks it will raise the awareness and visibility of how important this issue is.

When asked if there was money to be made in synchronisation in the local film industry, Jimenez said the organisation was speaking with FilmTT about possible opportunities.

While the past conferences focused on industry issues such as production, songwriting and building capacity, Arnold thinks the organisation’s focus on synchronisation was a good step.

It was important for CreativeTT as fashion and film were part of its mandate, he added.

Alleyne-Ovid said in 2022 the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) said the global recording music industry was valued at US$26.2 billion and this represented a nine per cent expansion from 2021.

This was driven by growth in paid subscription streaming, she added.

Revenues from the global recorded music industry are projected to grow to approximately US$53.2 billion by 2030, Alleyne-Ovid said.

“It signifies that the global music industry presents a tremendous opportunity for our local musical talent to tap into.”

She said the global music sync licensing sector accounts for more than US $1.1 billion in revenues annually and provides a lucrative market from which TT and Caribbean artistes could benefit.

TT has benefitted from sync licensing opportunities from as early as 1989 when David Rudder’s song Dark Secret was featured in the Hollywood film, Wild Orchid.

Ian "Bunji Garlin" Alvarez and Marcus Braveboy are among other local artistes who also benefited from sync licensing deals.

This year’s event will feature a live audience but will also be live-streamed and will include workshops panel discussions, presentations and business-to-business networking opportunities, Alleyne-Ovid said.

Jimenez extended an opportunity to the Caribbean community to join the organisation for the event. She said the first conference had 32 performances, 40 speakers from eight countries with 18 events resulting in 28,000 viewers from 20 countries. She said the conference will focus on investments, synchronisation in music and film.

“These are areas that are known by some (in theory) but remains a widely unfamiliar territory for artistes, companies and filmmakers locally and regionally, and RVRB Experience aims to remove that layer of unfamiliarity,” she said.

In its past the conference featured music executive and companies such as TikTok (Latin America), Music Ally (UK), SoStereo (US), Music Biz Association (US) and Audiomack (US) among others.

Jimenez said she hopes people walk away from this year’s conference feeling empowered to learn more and intrigued enough to start dabbling immediately in the world of sync.

“Through this conference we strive to impart knowledge about these upward trending revenue streams,” she said.