by Kevon Browne
St. Kitts and Nevis (WINN)—St. Kitts Music Festival kicks off on June 25, 2026, with the first night of the three-day event featuring some of the heavy-hitting soca artistes from across the Caribbean.
The lineup includes Machel Montano, Shelly & Signal Band, V’ghn, Voice, Brandon, Rucas H.E, Edwin Yearwood & Krosfyah, Nu Vybes Band International and an opening special musical tribute honouring Elston’king Ellie Matt’ Nero featuring the All-Star Band.
During the day-one press conference, the artists discussed artist and genre sustainability and legitimacy in the global music industry.
While Soca is a globally recognised genre, Machel Montano discussed how artists can become members of international music organisations, which would lead to the genre’s international recognition through awards like the Grammys.
“There has been great effort by a lot of us in the background, behind the scenes, petitioning for that Grammy category. It is also very much based on people from our industry and from our genre being members of the Recording Academy. We have to become members. We have to become voting members and understand the system. But I think everything is a numbers game. This is a numbers game. The great godfather of black music once told me that, Marshall, you’re going to have to put down the numbers.”
Montana noted that the growth of soca music, especially through streaming services, gives the region the potential to advance the industry further.
“And if we watch over the years, just with the introduction of streaming like Spotify and YouTube, so-called music has grown in its potential to reach numbers. There have been increased levels of songs on YouTube that hit a million views in less and less and less time. So it means that we are being consumed more. Spotify, Apple Music, those things will all contribute. I think we just have to keep on the trajectory. Soca music was created, as far as I know, in 1974. I consider us to be a young genre. And I consider all the elements of Soca right now to be helping that; Bouillon, Bashment from Barbados, and the Dennery Segment from St. Lucia. We have great artists coming from the Virgin Islands and also from islands like St. Kitts. So I feel once we keep pushing and we keep doing what is necessary, that result will come about at some point in time.”
Edwin Yearwood suggests that fans and supporters in the region have the capacity to make the Caribbean music industry sustainable.
“Numbers matter in many ways, especially in selling; music sales. And I believe that, when we, as the Caribbean, start to really, seriously, to me, it’s almost as if some of us are afraid to make Machel or voice a millionaire. I’ve been to, I think it’s the Dominican Republic, and I met an artist. I don’t remember his name, but he sang one song in 1992. And he’s living off of that right now. Because people went out and bought the music. And I think that that’s one of the things that we really need to look at. We can sustain our own Caribbean artists by supporting not just in effects, but playing the music, making sure that there is something there.”
With strong regional support, Yearwood shared that the music academy would respond accordingly.
“And I think the Grammys and everybody else will see numbers and say, wait a minute, I ain’t see them. I ain’t know them over there. And they will buy into it. I believe that’s what’s been happening to a lot of genres. And all we have to do, not all we have to do, but part of it is supporting the Caribbean itself in terms of buying. We’ve been around for a long time, and there’s no way that Machel Montano shouldn’t have had two or three million sales.”
While the genre commands immense economic power and a global cultural footprint through various Carnivals, it struggles with institutional legitimacy and year-round monetisation outside festival contexts.
Montano, Kes the Band, and Yung Bredda have previously been nominated; they must compete in the broader “Best Global Music” category.
The Academy reportedly cites a lack of collective voting power and structured product submissions from Caribbean creators as primary reasons.
