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Debate & reception

EditorialContested

Who owns the move? Dancers as uncredited creative labour

One side

Dancers as originators owed credit and pay for moves that drive songs

The other

A system where recording artists and promoters reap the returns

What was argued

As street-dance videos and DVDs made dancers briefly famous in the 2000s, commentary questioned the economics of the dance-song feedback loop: dancers invented moves (Bogle, Willie Bounce, Dutty Wine, Nuh Linga and others) that fuelled hit records and riddims, yet often went uncredited and unpaid while artists and promoters captured the value. The Jamaica Gleaner's 'Dancehall's dancers go hungry' (28 Apr 2013) documented dancers' complaints that the collapse of street dances under the Noise Abatement crackdown left them without income.

The records this concerns