Successor Membership

To be eligible for COTT membership a writer must meet at least one of the following criteria:

• his/her music is published by a person or company that carries on business as a music publisher;

OR

• his/her music has been released as a commercial recording;

OR

• his/her music has been publicly performed or broadcasted within the last year and that performance is licensed by COTT (i.e. on radio, television, in concert, clubs, etc.);

OR

• his/her music has been commercially recorded.

A successor member will be that person who is a spouse, child, relative, next of kind, beneficiary under a will or personal representative of a deceased writer, publisher or proprietor of a deceased member.

Application is to be made to the organisation's secretary and will carry the following requirements.

1. a completed application form;
2. copy of the writer's death certificate;
3. copy of the relevant Letter of Administration if applicable;
4. copy of the relevant Will if applicable;
5. a listing of the writer's works and shares if necessary.

Upon approval of your application, COTT will issue a membership contract to be signed and returned.

Please note that incomplete applications will not be processed.

Please note also that COTT is not able to pay out royalties for every individual performance or broadcast of your compositions.

In areas where it is not cost effective to collect and process full details of music usage, COTT uses samples of information or information from other sources to represent the compositions played. In addition COTT is not under any obligation to make distributions of royalties to you in respect of any public performance, broadcast or cable transmission of your compositions which take place prior to the date from which your admission to membership is deemed to b e effective. This is normally the 1st January or 1st July immediately preceding the date when admission is formally granted.

Please see HELP/FAQ's or contact a Member Service representative at your local COTT office. We will be happy to answer your questions and provide you with a copy of A Guide to COTT which will explain our function in more detail.