CEO's Message (continued)

Andre Tanker

As I write these lines, Trinidad & Tobago's creative community is still in a state of shock following the sudden loss of one of COTT's founding members, the legendary Andre Tanker. Whilst death is the one certainty we all have to face, I do not think any of us were prepared for Andre's passing at this particular point in time.

The last time that I saw Andre was aboard Ella Andall's anti-piracy "truck" on Valentine's Day. He was one of the few members of COTT who lent support to this particular effort to protest against the devastating impact of piracy on a wide cross section of our community : songwriters, composers, music publishers, recording artistes, record producers, sound engineers, background vocalists, musicians and even the Government (since pirates do not pay any taxes).

Shortly after he climbed aboard the music truck Andre gave me one of his beautiful boyish smiles, congratulated me on my recent appointment and said softly that he wanted to come and speak to me after Carnival. I assured him that I would be happy to meet with him then - little did we both know what fate had in store. As I was on my way to Island People's Girl Power fete on Carnival Friday I heard the news of his death and a profound wave of sadness came over me.

However, although Andre is gone, his music will live on. One of the powerful attributes of copyright and indeed one of the economic bases for copyright protection, is as with any other kind of property, such as houses, land, cars or jewellery, copyright extends beyond death. Andre's beloved wife Christine, daughter Zo Marie and grandson Jacob, can enjoy the fruits of Andre's tremendous creative talent for 50 years after his death.

Hopefully, Trinidad and Tobago's copyright laws will be amended to increase the period of copyright protection to 70 years after the death of the creator. Interestingly enough, the US copyright term extension legislation recently survived a constitutional challenge and was upheld by the US Supreme Court. Although the main recipients of the US legislation are Disney's Mickey Mouse and the already powerful record companies, let us hope that similar legislation will be introduced here in our part of the world for the benefit of the families and beneficiaries of our deceased composers and songwriters.

I am pretty sure that what Andre wanted to speak to me about was royalty distributions. So many of our composers and songwriters are disappointed that their royalty payments are by no means commensurate with the popularity and extensive use of their music.

The sad reality is that COTT can only distribute what it collects. TT $5 million a year, hardly reflects the extensive use of music everywhere around us: on radio, television, the Internet; in shops, bars, clubs, gyms, supermarkets, shops, malls, cinemas, restaurants, hotels, airplanes; at concerts, fetes, festivals; and by CDs, cassettes, videos, DVDs, films, commercials, tv programmes, telephone ring tones and other recorded media.

My main task is therefore to ensure that when I leave COTT, a substantial portion of our region's musical creators and their heirs will have the satisfaction of feeling that they are being justly compensated for the use of their musical works.