jamarchCollie Buddz, the Bermudian Reggae star with the dancehall sound that crosses genres from pop to hip-hop, announced this week that he was forming his own touring company, CB Touring, to handle all booking for his live appearances. CB Touring embraces the trend of artistic control in every aspect of life on the road by aggressively pursuing a touring schedule that allows Collie to connect with his fans and bring his hard hitting live show to more locations across the globe.
The value of an artist’s intellectual property has declined significantly in the age of file sharing, and Collie is determined not to devalue it as it relates to touring.
‘Every venue we play, every promoter we work with, all the numbers, when we tour, what songs we play… I want my own organization to be in charge of those decisions, and own that information,’ says Collie in between signing autographs for fans during his current tour with Slightly Stoopid and Cypress Hill.
On the road through the end of August, Collie is playing the official pre-party for Lollapalooza on Thursday night at House of Blues Chicago before continuing on the Legalize It 2010 tour, which finishes in Florida. Collie will hit a small East Coast and West Coast run in September including headlining the West Beach Festival in Santa Barbara. The fun continues with a secondary market jaunt in November. Collie will then take some much-needed rest to be with his family in Bermuda as he prepares for the birth of his first child. In 2011 expect a nationwide US tour kicking off on the East Coast in late March and ending on the West Coast in Late April followed by extensive international touring.
CB Touring is the product of a unique collaboration between Collie Buddz, his management team, Mojiza Management, headed by industry veteran Dino Devaille, and Ineffable Music Group, a Bay Area firm specializing in artist infrastructure solutions. ‘We have taken the philosophies of the best agents and touring operations in the business and molded them into something that allows Collieto be the touring artist he wants to be, on his terms.’ Says Thomas Cussins of CB Touring.
‘ Tech N9ne’s operation with Mark Reifsteck, and the model of Aaron Pinkus at Paradigm are major influences on how we approach our booking philosophy. We also have to credit the strategies of Ari Bernstein, formerly of WLA, and the genre -bending packages and artist development of many other agents.’
Collie Buddz will be releasing a follow-up record to his self-titled release that has sold almost half a million copies worldwide in January 2011. The album will continue to bend the paradigm of what a reggae artist is supposed to sound like. Collie, who credits his brother Smokey with introducing him to the beauty of reggae music as a youth in Bermuda, will nonetheless experiment with his beats and flows as he lays down track after track of pure ‘Fyah.’ Collie’s long-time manager, Dino Devaille, who helped to mold the concept of CB Touring had this to say about Collie’s new music, “For the sophomore release it’s pure vibes man: the energy you feel when you find that person that practically makes your heart stop, for good or for bad; the crush of walking by someone without food to eat, clothes to wear, or a roof to shelter them and telling yourself you can do something, or you won’t, and time stops in that moment while you decide to walk by them or to walk beside them; the feelings of bliss when you thank The Almighty for giving you life; the feelings of devastation when you feel like you can’t move on.
Collie’s sophomore album makes you feel like someone understands you and you don’t exist alone. It’s sound magic”. He also commented on what fans should expect from Collie in the next year, ‘in the future the fans should come to expect Collie Buddz to become a brand artist, and a movement that caters to the ever changing music fan. Collie Buddz is the people’s artist.’
Watching Collie as he performs on stage with his band New Kingston at a recent show in Philadelphia at Penn’s Landing, it is clear that despite his reputation as an artist’s artist with the most complete reggae album of the last ten years, nowhere is he more comfortable than on stage. As he flashes his trademark smile and waves in unison with five thousand fans, he is in complete control of the stage and the next move is up to him. We get the feeling that is exactly what he had in mind.
Source: www.reggaefestivalguide.com
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