Entertainment Industry Veteran Tracii Mcgregor Speaks To Jampact
About The Challenges Facing Jamaican Music And Musicians
Former Executive Editor of The Source Magazine, music industry veteran Tracii McGregor will
enlighten New York’s Jamaican community about barriers facing the Jamaican music industry on
the international level at the next JAMPACT general meeting. Vice President and General Manager
of reggae superstar Buju Banton’s newly formed label Gargamel Music, Inc., McGregor will address
such issues as the persecution of Jamaican artists in the wake of several campaigns to ban
Dancehall music, the current fight to get Buju’s travel restriction lifted in the United States,
the difficulty in securing distribution deals as an independent reggae label, and the piracy of
Jamaican music and culture by the mainstream.
"I am not in this industry to do things the way its always been done," McGregor offers about her
role in Jamaican music. "I am in it to change it."
McGregor will be screening the video for Buju’s new single "Magic City" in addition to giving out
copies of the single to the first 10 attendees to RSVP.
When: Saturday, July 16th, 2005 at 2pm
Where: Columbia Business School - Room 307 Uris Hall @ 116th Street and Broadway
Take the 1 or 9 trains to 116th Street & Broadway
RSVP: Call 212.459.4390 or email jampact@jampact.org
Tracii McGregor
Born in the United Kingdom, McGregor graduated from the University of California--Santa Cruz
with a degree in Journalism in 1992. Shortly after moving to New York City in the mid-nineties,
McGregor served as Director of Media Relations for hip-hop independent label Payday Records and
Empire Management, working with such artists as Jeru the Damaja and Gangstarr. She joined The
Source Magazine in 1996 where she rose in rank from the Lifestyle Editor to Executive Editor
and eventually became Vice President of Content and Communications. Her documentary "Joe’s Gotta
Go" was featured in the Urban World Film Festival. It chronicled a tumultuous mayoral election in
Selma, Alabama in which political kingpin James Smitherman was ousted in favor of the city’s first
black mayor, James Perkins. McGregor left The Source in October of 2004 to partner with Buju Banton
in launching Gargamel Music, Inc. She also runs a boutique consulting firm, Wildseed Communications,
which focuses on content development, grassroots marketing, event management, and strategic public
relations.
