How much is Reggae.com being sold for ? And Who Owns Jamaica.com?

I was asked to be on a panel that was discussing the State of the Music/Entertainment Industry during Covid-19. The live-streamed event was produced by the Jamaica Reggae Industry Association. I was brought on to talk about Digital Trends and Opportunities for Jamaica’s Music and Entertainment Industry and how they can maximise online platforms to earn and remain relevant during this time.

In doing some additional research, my curiosity led me to check in on some key digital assets again which I believe ought to be in the hands of Jamaica and Jamaicans. I had not checked on them in years. I was shocked that nothing had changed. I still can’t believe that the domain names – Jamaica.com, Reggae.com, and Reggaemusic.com are all owned by Americans and Canadians. All of those digital domain names were registered between 1994-1996.

We all know that a domain name is digital real estate, it’s gold and it’s an asset that must be owned by and benefit the right people. I remember in those early domaining days when it was like the wild west, people used to buy domain names cheap, squat on them, and also try to resell the names to the rightful owners for huge profits. That trend cooled when the lawsuits heated up, clearly not enough as key Jamaican Digital real estate is still owned by foreigners who are both squatting and also offering it up for sale in some cases.

Reggae.com is for sale with the pricetag of USD$330,000. It was registered in August 1995. I couldn’t find out who owns it as they have a privacy lock on registration information. The only thing I could find was that the address was Seven Mile Beach, Grand Cayman. The question is, why is this person/entity allowed to cybersquat on a premium piece of Digital real estate that belongs to Jamaica and Jamaicans?

ReggaeMusic.com is available for sale for US$20,000 and the registered owner is Fiorentino Holdings, a Government Relations and Business Development based in California. It was registered from November 1996.

Jamaica.com has Col.com Corporation, a Canadian based company as the registered owner. The Administrative and Technical contact is Sally Haxthow. It was registered from October 1994. How has this organization and this person been allowed to have this domain for 26 years, when it is supposed to be the Government of Jamaica or an assigned government sanctioned agency that owns this?!!

Jamaica and Jamaicans simply do not take their Brand Jamaica Digital Real Estate seriously! And What is digital real estate? The term digital real estate refers to the domain names, social media handles, or other markers that stake out a space on the Internet as being yours. We simply must change this!!