The entire concept of paying to play music in public may be foreign to Belize, but that's how artists worldwide make money: every time you hear their music on the radio, on television or in an ad, they're getting paid.
And now, a group wants to introduce that idea to Belizean musicians, performers and composers, particularly for times when their music is used internationally.
The first in a series of sensitization workshops was held in the city today by the Belizean Society of Composers Authors Publishers (BSCAP). The non-profit organization for collecting and administering copyrights of artists met with key stakeholders in the industry to discuss the way forward in protecting their works.
Erica Smith CEO of the Caribbean Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers told us- it bears numerous benefits:
Erica Smith, CEO Caribbean Society of Composers
"First on the signing where copyright stands in terms of economic development because as you may be aware in the region we are already focus on the development of our cultural and creative sector but the legal basis of that sector is copyright, so there is no way we can talk about developing our music industry or audio visual industry visual arts unless we have an appreciation for copyright. We also have to understand that the exploitation of rights, the way of making money whether our music or film etc especially in music. In music in terms of the sale of product that's a dead market, piracy and the digital revolution has taken care of that. We are talking about rights, that all it is, it's an intangible right, so we cannot develop that sector unless we appreciate and respect copyright and the type of work that organization such as BASCAP offer and to place it in terms of a global perspective, in term of music alone there are heading in societies such as this. i can't remember a figure but it's about 7-8 billion euros a year that's generated by these organizations so it's really nothing trivial and by having this establish in Belize, we are talking about not only protecting foreign copyright in Belize, more importantly we are talking about ensuring the basis for the protection and the generation of revenue for Belizeans within Belize and international."
Orson Elrington, Project Consultant
"Today's workshop was for the key music users in particular. The key music user being those that use music as a part of their commercial business so TV stations, radio stations, resorts, any entity that as a part of their commercial presents they use music, that was the target audience for today's consultation. basically we were today trying to sanitize them about what are the benefits of BASCAP and trying to begin the process of negotiating what would be the license fee and what would be acceptable, what are some of the questions that they might have about a collective management organization and its role."
This awareness campaign is expected to continue throughout the country in the upcoming months. Those with questions can email CEO Cunningham at info@bscap.bz.
