Busy Signal may be one of the most recent victims, but very often artistes are falsely advertised for shows, something that affects them negatively.

Busy Signal was being advertised for a recent show, Guinness Summer Splash. However, days before the event, he said he had no contract with the promoter of the event.

"This is no young artiste, this is a professional artiste. We just come back a Jamaica. Wi nuh waan nobody scam di ting and do how dem always love fi turn it around an seh di artiste neva show. I just want to clear the air. I'm not going to be at Mas Camp performing," Busy Signal said in an interview with THE STAR last week.

Another artiste who says this is a problem for him is Elephant Man. Currently in the United States following several shows over the Labour Day weekend, he said he saw many posters advertising him for shows that he was not booked for.

"I am in New York for the Labour Day weekend and booked for eight or nine shows. Then, now yuh deh pon the street of Brooklyn and see 20 flyer wid you pon it," he said.

Adding, "This is just some likkle guy weh put yuh pon poster and dat nuh right, and it is causing problems for the artistes."

people money

Tommy Lee

He said there was also the case of the annual Chiemsee Reggae Summer Festival in Germany recently.

"You have a show in Germany saying I am booked for it and I never get a dollar fi dat show. If I am in Europe, why am I going to leave the biggest reggae show," he told THE STAR.

Elephant Man added that artistes are the ones who will look bad in the end.

"At the end of the day it will look like the artistes tek people money and don't go. Mi just want the people to know that mi nuh tek people money and don't go show," he said.

"This is not good for the artistes when people put your name on the flyer like that. They need to stop it because it is causing problems."

According to Blue, Beenie Man's brother and manager, false advertising not only affects the artiste, but also the fans.

"More than likely, the first thing is, that you have to think about the artistes' fans who will go there to see him," he said, noting that the no-show is not always explained.

He continued, "it affects us as management 'cause we have to do damage control. Beenie Man is not a no-show artiste. We try to make sure that if he is advertised for an event, he is there."

haunts us

Blue also stressed that promoters need to ensure that they have contracts with the artistes or their management teams.

Dancehall artiste Tommy Lee Sparta has also been plagued by the issue, according to his manager Heavy-D.

"We have been a victim over and over again of this. False promotions have haunted us within Jamaica and outside. Fans have reached out to us, furious on several occasions. It has happened in New York, French Guyana, Trinidad and several other places. When Tommy Lee Sparta went to Trinidad, no one believed he would actually show as he had two fraud advertisements prior. When this happens it affects the turnout."

He continued, "once there is a false advertisement of the artiste, promoters fear to book in the territory. They have an uncertainty that they are negotiating with the right people. It also affects the fans, they don't want to spend money to buy tickets and not see the artiste. As a result, we have to spend more time, money and effort in promotion and arrive earlier than normal in these countries."

Locally, he said promoters will put artistes on posters as they like, but, "at the end of the day, Heavy D Promotions and Live Jam Entertainment are the only authorised booking agents for Tommy Lee Sparta," he told THE STAR.