Seon Isaacs gives back to soca industry, invests in young artistes

After 18 years growing his promotional business Isaacs Promotions, Seon Isaacs said his next step is to invest in young people in the soca industry.

Isaacs began his career in radio after leaving Pleasantville Senior Secondary. He said he did a brief stint in construction but realised it wasn’t for him. But the job enabled him to save enough money to begin entering the entertainment industry.

“I did a broadcasting course with Fine Tune Media, that’s Romel Best and Samantha John, and then began working at two radio stations in 2007. The working hours were really short and I ended up with more time to do more things, and once I understood how the radio system worked, I used it to my advantage, gained momentum, gained popularity, and then I started to do events of my own as a promoter.”

Isaacs registered his company Isaacs Promotions in 2007 and began putting on events in south Trinidad.

“Before I got that off the ground, I became part of a unit called Studio 53 starting in 2005, and we quickly became the body that was responsible for what they called local reggae music, because we helped produce a lot of the major songs and artists at the time, including Prophet Benjamin, I-Sasha, Million Voice, King David, Mr King, Zebulon, who was one of the first artistes I managed. It worked out well for us as a unit and I was still able to do everything I was doing under Isaacs Promotions. That partnership went on for a number of years and then we came to a point where everyone wanted to do different things.

“Between picking up momentum with radio and producing artists with Studio 53, I had direct connections to artists, it was easy for me to get talent to perform at my events.”

He said he was able to capitalise on his popularity, grow his business, and add more services to Isaacs Promotions.

“I started to add bigger clients, do management with Benjai, Blaxx, Flippo who is now Azaryah, Lil Bitts, and more. I was able to steer their careers over a period of years. In doing that, a lot of opportunities came for me to do events overseas, and I still currently do events overseas in the islands and in the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia (DMV) in the US.”

Isaacs said he is highly involved in the promotion and marketing of the upcoming Redemption Concert on June 1. He said this would be the fifth Redemption Concert he has worked on.

“I hope to see everyone in the Savannah for Redemption 9. That team, the Tropics Entertainment family, is a well-oiled well that is always in constant motion. It’s Tropics, Java Nation, Johnny Q Sound Company, and Isaacs Promotions. It’s a well-rounded team and for all these years we’ve been working well together with regards to Redemption. We also put on Army Fete and Brass Bacchanal.”

Currently Isaacs Promotions runs with a staff of seven people.

“Many times people ask us how we do what we do, but we get the job done. It’s a small team but we get it done.”

Isaacs grew up in Boodoosingh Drive in Marabella, and attended Williamsville Junior Secondary and Pleasantivlle Senior Secondary. He said he was always drawn to the entertainment industry.

“There was some level of fascination at the time. I can’t even remember what it was, but there was some level of fascination, I always knew I had to do something in entertainment, I just couldn’t find my space and at the point in time I didn’t know what it was. Once I got into broadcasting, all these options opened up and came into play.

“I only ended up in management because being on the radio and being a personality was a bit much. You had to be the guy, you had to be the one in front and I didn’t like that aspect. So once I was able to help artists and realised I could still play a major part but not be in the front, I started to get more in love with the business aspect of the music industry.”

Isaacs is married to singer and actress Shivonne “Lil’ Bitts” Churche-Isaacs and enjoys relaxing with family.

“Family is my thing. I try to spend time with family as much and just push away the world, because 98 per cent of the time I’m doing things, I’m active, travelling here there and everywhere, so I really just try to do family.”

Isaacs said the most enjoyable part of working in the soca industry has been seeing the development of artists.

“That’s both personal and musical development. Sometimes you’re dealing with talent from the very beginning, from the scratch, and then you see that manifest over a number of years into something that the world could appreciate. That is an amazing outlook, especially when you as the individual had a lot of input into creating a talent.”

He said over the 18 years he has been part of the industry, he has definitely seen a growth in the music industry.

“Artists are now more aware of the business aspect of the business, which is a beautiful thing. Prior to now, a lot of artists were just so driven and hungry to just do music that they didn’t pay attention to the business, but now a lot of artists are much more aware of what is going on and it also helps in their careers as well. Some of the poor decisions that were made in the past by young and veteran talent are not made any more.”

Isaacs said the lack of unity is still a pervading issue throughout the industry.

“I think we need to be more unified. There’s still a lot of minute bickering that is unnecessary and I think we need to expand more and do more with the music. Less fight and more unity.”

He said in the future, he’s looking forward to working with more and new talent, as well as expanding into more territories.

“There’s a regurgitation of talent, and this is not taking away from any one or two people, but there’s a regurgitation of names, and it’s important for us as players in the industry, because we are all part of a bigger puzzle and we need to play our part. The bigger picture is to do more with the younger generation, to do more with the youth, to help develop the industry by bringing more new talent to the forefront. That’s what I want to do on an individual level and with my company.”