San Fernando Mayor Ian Atherly, left, with Cott’s President Terence O’Neil Lewis at the recent opening of Cott’s South office.

This is the second in a series as the Copyright Organisation of T&T (COTT) celebrates 20 years of collective management in T&T and leadership in the field of intellectual property in the Caribbean.

The following statement was delivered by Mayor of San Fernando, Alderman IAN ATHERLY, at the official opening of COTT’s South office at 129c Coffee Street, San Fernando, on March 23.

It is indeed a pleasure for me to join with you for this official opening of the South office of the Copyright Organisation of T&T. This office, which has been long in coming, will provide easier accessibility for people in south and central Trinidad who will be doing business with Cott.

The relative closeness and ease with which business can now be done in the South is likely to encourage new business. Efficiency and productivity will definitely improve across the board as the trip to Cott’s Port-of-Spain office is no longer necessary.

Music is one of the highly viable, modern, knowledge-based industries that has a significant impact on employment and community development. It is reported that the music industry accounts for approximately 50 per cent of the foreign exchange of the entertainment sector.

The very importance of the industry goes beyond its own dimension because of the power of its economic impact; its impact on tourism, the export and the manufacturing sectors.

Music is played almost daily in homes, banks, shopping malls, vehicles and offices, among other places.

Music is one of the universal elements of society and is everywhere to be heard. We all enjoy music, whatever the species.

The promotion and protection of our music industry, therefore, is the responsibility of every citizen, particularly those who benefit from it in tangible ways, including business music users.

As a business user myself, I can tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that without music, my business patronage will decline. And I am sure that I speak for other music users in the entertainment industry. As such, the development of the music industry is in our own best interest.

The licence fee we pay to Cott is an investment on which there is guaranteed returns. Such development implies growing self-reliance, both individual and collective.

Central to the development of the industry must be our own resources, both human and material, wisely used to meet our own needs.

The growth and development of the music industry will also be influenced by the amount of airplay that is given to local music. A special investigation in 2000 revealed that over one million dollars in royalties were collected by Cott for music used in local entertainment services in 1989; $111,000 remained in this country.

The other 90 per cent was converted into US dollars for distribution to foreign artistes, all because we did not play enough of our own music on radio.

In the year 2000, out of the 175,000 songs played on radio, only 17,000 or 11 per cent was local.

In her message in Cott news of March, 2005, chief executive officer Allison Demas stated that at the end of 2004, Cott’s total membership amounted to 1,107 composers, song writers and music publishers.

In 2004, the amount of royalties distributed to Cott members reached its zenith with a total of some $4.1 million. Last year’s figure is a five-fold increase over the $800 that was paid in royalties after Cott’s first year of operation in 1986, representing an average increase per year of 21 per cent.

Given the circumstances under which Cott has had to operate, your organisation has done well.

I wish to take this opportunity to commend all past and present members of the board and management, employees and other stakeholders for their contribution to Cott’s success.

Through your unrelenting efforts to stamp out music piracy, to achieve a greater percentage of airplay for local music and to bring all users of music under licence, Cott is poised to become a major success story in the region and beyond.

On behalf of the San Fernando City Corporation and on my own behalf, I extend warmest greetings and best wishes on the occasion of your 20th anniversary and on the official opening of this office.

May your tenure be long, enjoyable and rewarding.

Happy anniversary and God speed.

How is something copyright?

The following insight is being given in response to last week’s column which elicited a number of questions regarding the copyright in literary and artistic works.

In T&T, as in many countries where there exists a legal framework, ie, copyright laws, your work is copyright automatically as soon as it’s written or recorded in some way.

To protect your copyright you only need:

n to prove that it’s yours and when you produced it;

n to assert your copyright on any copies of the work (although its copyright even without a statement).

The recommended way to prove ownership is to keep sealed, dated masters with a third party (bank, solicitor, etc). A cheaper option is to post yourself a copy and keep it sealed (with a clear postmark date).

Strictly speaking you don’t need a copyright statement, but if you have one it should look like this:

© your name, year, all rights reserved (a P in a circle is used for recordings).

Copyright Control means the composition hasn’t been assigned to a publisher.

Further information can be obtained from Cott.