Racism and segregation for starters, there were also huge immigration hurdles for many artists from the Caribbean islands, many artists had health care related problems on the islands, tropical storms, economic depressions, governmental corruption, music equipment and resources were very expensive (because they had to be imported), and financing and funding for everything is a challenge citing that no other major music or film industry was located anywhere near to the islands (NY, California, England, etc.).

This is why many labels in the past would simply get their existing artists to "hijack" reggae themes into their music, because the islands were isolated geographically from public awareness in the early days.