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Promoters and others who broadcast music will now have to pay two fees to the Copyright Music Organisation of T&T (COTT) to be able to host a show. This, as COTT has signed an agreement with the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), Latin America and the Caribbean (LATMC), which enables COTT to collect and administer neighbouring rights for music for the first time.

Every song which is recorded has two types of rights attached to it, which enables the creators and others associated with the song to get paid. Copyright applies to the song author/composer and the publisher while Neighbouring rights apply to the performer and the owner of the master recording, usually a producer.

The agreement was signed by COTT President John Arnold and IFPI LATMC Regional Director Javier Asensio on January 19. Arnold said “COTT is the only organisation that represents international music because of the reciprocal agreements with international Collective Management Agencies and Societies. It is the first Organization that will sign an agreement with IFPI for the administration of neighbouring rights (also called related rights) in T&T, and we will continue to work with our stakeholders to ensure that the creators benefit the most as we seek in every way to maximise revenue for composers, writers and publishers and soon, producers, and performers and right holders of audio and audio-visual recordings.”

COTT CEO Ayanna Lewis said COTT has collected licence fees from music users since 1984. “These fees are then distributed as royalties to our composer, author and publisher members when their musical works are publicly performed, broadcast or transmitted to the public. COTT currently stands has a membership of over 3,800 local music creators. COTT is also part of a wider Association of Caribbean Copyright Societies including COSCAP in Barbados, JACAP in Jamaica and ECCO which covers the nine Eastern Caribbean countries. COTT also has reciprocal agreements with over 60 societies across the globe and their three million members. Societies like ASCAP and BMI in the US, SOCAN in Canada and PRS in the UK all work closely with COTT to ensure our members get the royalties they deserve wherever their musical compositions are played.”

COTT Project Coordinator for Neighbouring Rights Implementation, Ottmore Mieres, said “COTT’s administration of neighbouring rights will commence on July 1, 2019. Through the partnership with IFPI, COTT will represent IFPI members in T&T and COTT has begun the registration of producers and performers locally as members. IFPI members Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group have already joined COTT as producer members.”

IFPI represents the interests of the recording industry worldwide. It is a non-profit members’ organisation registered in Switzerland and founded in Italy in 1933. Asensio said the organisation protects the intellectual property of its members and promotes an environment in which members can develop their activity in a better way. “This falls under four areas: promoting the value of their activity to various governments and trying to get the best legislation; fighting piracy; promoting the performance rights market; and providing information about what is going on in the music market. I’m happy to assist the performers and producers in T&T to find a way that there can be recognition of their work internationally, and to finally get remuneration for their investment. The business of licensing of performance rights worldwide has a value of two billion dollars for performers and producers. I’m happy to say on behalf of IFPI to say that we will have a project that will go to different venues and let them simplify the way in which they can get the license and play, perform our songs.  IFPI will also be working on getting the digital market to T&T, to get the best scenario possible of investment of digital music providers, whether it’s YouTube, Spotify, Apple, and many opportunities to monetize your performances and investment in sound recordings.”

Asensio said older recordings will have to be digitised to take advantage of these services and he is willing to assist in making connections. He said IFPI is working on getting T&T its own International Standard Recording Code code, as IFPI is designated by ISO to manage the code. An ISRC code is a unique identification system for sound recordings and music video recordings. Each ISRC code identifies a specific unique recording and can be permanently encoded into a product as a kind of digital fingerprint.

Mieres stressed that a Collective Management Organisation can only collect for the repertoires it represents, and said COTT will continue to educate the public and its members about its services.

For more information on music and rights administration in T&T, visit http://www.cott.org.tt.