Contractor Music Group hits streaming milestone

The Contractor Music Group has been recognised for surpassing five million streams across multiple platforms.

Producer and music marketer,Sean 'Contractor' Edwards admitted that he was not expecting the recognition.

"Well, I feel great for this small milestone, and it encourages me to work harder, especially since it's difficult to get five million streams, being a small independent label without a real breakout, crossover single. These five million streams are from projects released since 2020 and I don't flood the market, so it's unexpected," he said.

He also reflected on his journey and put into perspective how his desire to continue marketing music has proven to be favourable.

"I started five years ago with my first album, Tropical House Cruises to Jamaica, which went to No. 1 on the Billboard Reggae Album charts for four weeks straight, and spent 19 weeks in the top 10. Because of the success of it, I decided to make a series of it. My big break, internationally, came with the 2020 edition, when we had Shatta Wale from Ghana as the headliner, and hit in over 20 countries on its release, mainly in Africa and Europe, and some Middle Eastern countries," he shared.

"The core of my business is music marketing. And what better person to market songs than someone who has had success with his own releases with some of the top artistes in the world of reggae and dancehall?" he added.

Edwards is already brainstorming his next project and hopes to include some artistes he has yet to work with.

"My next project will have Jason Derulo, Sean Kingston, Chris Brown and several reggae and dancehall artistes. I haven't worked out the concept yet, but I would love to have a song from Masicka, and would love to have more female presence like Shenseea and Spice. I'm also gonna introduce new artistes Fyah George and Yankee Spanky, and I would like to work with Chris Gayle again," he said.

"Most of my streams come from Apple Music, and most of my streams come from America. So naturally I like Apple Music, because it only takes 125 streams to make US$1, whereas Spotify requires 314 streams to pay out $1. I also admire Jay Z's Tidal streaming platform, even though he sold 80 per cent of his shares, because it only requires 78 streams to make US$1," he shared.