JJ's Down Jamaica Way

JJ's Down Jamaica Way
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Sunday, December 21, 2014

The End of Ernie B's Reggae

For several decades myself and many others who suffer with the same affliction as I, have been getting our reggae medicine from Ernie B's Reggae in the US of A which was a wondrous mail order outlet, stocking about 99% of reggae music releases.
What made shopping at Ernie B's was their excellent customer service & the fact that if a piece of reggae music was issued anywhere in the world , nine times out of ten you'd find it at Ernie's.

Sadly over the last couple of years Ernie B's has slowly but surely drifted further & further from their reggae roots.

Where once you could find all the latest vinyl releases by the leading  reissue labels such as Pressure Sounds, Iroko Records, Onlyroots & Digikiller/Deeper Knowledge, now you'll find their latest release web-page filled with pop & rock artists.....meaning that now we collectors have to source our music from the UK or Europe at a huge increase in costs.

Surely not having a US mail order base for reggae will severely hamper these small niche reggae labels from reaching a wider audience?



Having nowhere in the US to buy from may well be the final nail in the coffin for collectors such as myself......


j j

2 comments:

  1. hello, i like reggae funky songs and rap from the early 80's from jamaica, caribbean islands and africa, i would like to listen 2 tracks by audio funk mc, the price is right and international punk rocker, 1980, from jamaica, could you send me the songs by email? thank you
    s.belasri@laposte.net

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  2. I too have been feeling the effects of Ernie B's "crossover." While it saddens me that the reggae is taking a back seat to pop and rock, it saddens me more that it's obvious Ernie needs to resort to these tactics to keep his business afloat. I applaud him on taking these drastic measures to insure his livelihood but it hurts to see that reggae alone will no longer pay the bills.

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