Primary Wave (company)

• But as a music industry scholar, I wonder if the film is yet another extension of the Marley marketing machine.
• This image, however, is fundamentally at odds with what has happened to Marley’s name and likeness since his death.
• Now you can buy Bob Marley backpacks, Bob Marley jigsaw puzzles – even Bob Marley flip-flops.

On and off the record

• According to the publication, Marley earned US$16 million – or rather, his estate did.
• The commercial power of Bob Marley’s name generates the royalties earned by the estate, though precise percentages are not publicly available.
• One posthumous musical release, in particular, has been a gold mine: Marley’s “Legend” compilation album.
• But the material absent from that record speaks volumes.

• These tracks don’t appear on “Legend.” In fact, none of the tracks from “Survival” do.
• And so four decades after his death, Bob Marley remains the world’s top reggae artist.

Merchandising a mystic

• In an era of minuscule music royalties, a large portion of that $16 million in earnings also comes from merchandising, which has further watered down Marley’s revolutionary politics and spiritualism.
• Thanks to what two writers called “the Disneyfication of all matters Marley,” you can now buy Bob Marley-themed coffee, ice cream and body wash. There’s sustainably sourced, Bob Marley-branded audio equipment, in addition to a line of Bob Marley skateboard decks.

• It’s funded by the American private equity company Privateer Holdings, which the Marley family had approached to gauge their interest in collaboration for the product’s release.
• The creators of the Starbucks logo were hired to design the logo for Marley Natural, further underlining the venture’s commercial ties.
• In 2001, his daughter Cedella, who runs parts of the estate, released a fashion line called Catch a Fire.
• On it, tracks like “Slave Driver,” “Concrete Jungle” and “400 Years” connect the poverty of the present to the injustices of the past.

The reel situation of ‘One Love’

• The estate has long portrayed the rampant commercialization of the Marley name and image as an important way to sustain and spread the artist’s ideals.
• However, I think it’s important to ensure that the artistic and cultural values embedded in his music do not become clouded in a haze of rampant commercialization.
• And his anti-imperialist messages, as warmongers threaten basic human rights around the world, are perhaps needed now more than ever.

Mike Alleyne does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.