ENTITY · TECHNOLOGY / GEAR
Sound-system selector
Well supported
The person who chooses the records and works the turntables. The selector is not a support role to the deejay: in a clash the selection is the argument, and knowing which tune answers which — and when to pull it up — is what wins or loses the night. The distinction between selector and deejay is basic to how a Jamaican dance is organised, and is routinely lost in translation abroad.
At a glance
- Confidence
- Well supported
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Debate & reception
What people argued about this record — two documented positions each time, kept apart from verified fact. Browse every argument in the archive →
Dubplates on the air: wider exposure for the artist, or a broken promise to the sound that paid for it?
One side
Radio exposure that spreads a sound's reputation
The other
Eroding the paid-for exclusivity of a dubplate special
A dubplate special is commissioned exclusively for one sound system, and sound-system etiquette holds that an artist should not undercut that exclusivity by voicing the same lyrics for a rival before a clash. Radio play of a dubplate raises a related, longstanding tension: airing a special can introduce it, and the sound that owns it, to a mass audience, but it can also drain the very exclusivity the commissioning sound paid for. Selectors and stations differ on where the line sits. Neutral framing; no verdict.
Read the argument →Who gets remembered: sound, selector or artist?
One side
Artist fame
The other
Sound-system labor memory
Sound-system history often celebrates headline artists, but selectors, operators, box men, tape sellers and local promoters made the scene work. This item flags a research balance problem rather than settling it.
Read the argument →Share this record
Compiled and researched by The Jamaica Music Atlas music desk. The sources that informed it are credited above.
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