American R&B singer, Ne-Yo has decided to expand his record label beyond the United States; launching a Caribbean version of his Compound Entertainment label yesterday. The Grammy winning singer unveiled the new version, Compound Island during a media launch at the Spanish Court hotel in New Kingston, Jamaica last night.

In an interview with the Jamaica STAR, Ne-Yo explained his reasoning behind launching “Compound Island” & expressed his admiration for Jamaican music. "The reason we decided to do this here, besides the obvious talent, is that the Jamaican market is very single-driven, where you have that one special song. We believe that is where the music business is heading right now, that singles matter more than the album,” he intimated.

Furthermore, the “Miss Independent” singer believes that local acts can be just as much a mainstream success as foreign artistes & that a lack of knowledge on the worldwide, global music business has been what’s held Jamaican acts back from further success. "Reggae music is global music, you can go anywhere to hear it, you can go to Australia and hear it," Ne-Yo said. He also pointed out the Rihanna & Bruno Mars have been using a lot of Jamaican rhythms & sounds in their songs recently to achieve mainstream success.