DOI: 10.4324/9781003205500-5 “Cut! You can play bass? leave the studio I don’t want you inside here 1 ” This chapter will interrogate the concept of in/security as it relates to the popular music scene in Kingston. The recording studio can be a secure space for those who are accepted by the creative collectives that govern and police that space. Hence the issue of in/securities in this chapter centres around the negotiations needed to gain acceptance to this creative space in order to express their creativity with the ultimate aim of making an impact in the entertainment business. There is also the in/security that surrounds making it to the studio but still having to prove oneself by making hits, which itself creates its own fragility when one has to repeat success for a sustained period. The produc- tion processes in the studios of Kingston present an intriguing manifestation of creative democratization on one hand, where the music-making process sets up scenarios that facilitate easy entry for some, while, on the other hand, the gate- keeping process still exists in a very forceful and unforgiving way which affects modes of production, star creation, hit music creation, and leads to endless frustration and disappointment for the majority of entrants to the music scene. This in/security is prevalent, even necessary, despite the glamorous stories of major successes that are associated with the industry. Using case study and ethnographic enquiry, this chapter attempts to shed light on the complicated process of selection, production and acceptance which plays out in the studios of Kingston and how it affects the output of music production, which is so influential globally. Kingston’s creative in/security The concept of global in/security has been delineated through three distinc- tive elements. However, for the purposes of this chapter, I will interrogate in/security from perspectives that are “characterized by forms of negotiative agency that are amenable to exploration via creative practice”. According to Patricia Noxolo (2018), creative practice is seen as “a resource for examining 4 Interrogating in/securities in the recording studios of Kingston Dennis Howard