COSCAP helped artistes after static royalties

by Marlon Madden

Entertainers and many of those in the creative industry continue to experience a devastating impact from the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic, earning little to no income as they continue to be barred from holding any public events.

The situation has been made worse with many of them not being able to collect much in royalties due to the closure of nightclubs, periodic shutdown of restaurants and other businesses, as well as a falloff in advertisements that would generally support royalty payments from radio stations.

Some have since found other ways of still earning some income by hosting online events.

However, the Copy Right Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (COSCAP) Inc. stepped in to provide some assistance to some of its roughly 1,000 local members last year, and Chief Executive Officer Dr Erica Smith told Today’s BUSINESS she was hoping that things could turn around this year so that the entertainers could once again earn a decent income.

“It has been devastating because if there is no entertainment related activities then the royalties collection will fall significantly. So, it means there is even greater reliance on what we call general licensing – the licensing of premises such as shops, retail outlets, supermarkets, and offices,” Smith said.

“Thankfully, we have been able to retain quite a large proportion of our businesses in those areas. But we have still seen a fall obviously, especially since we have had the shutdowns. Also a lot of businesses in Barbados have been impacted by tourism, the ebbs and flows of tourism. So until we really see events happening again, and of course, importantly Crop Over, the situation remains really challenging,” Smith explained.

She told Today’s BUSINESS that COSCAP “tried to assist in the first instance paying royalties earlier, and we have offered some assistance to members in very dire need, but we don’t have much flexibility because we need money to come in.”

Last year, COSCAP provided allowance/stimulus payments to members in the amount of $6,125 and provided “additional assistance allocation” of some $25,600.

The amount of royalties paid out to local songwriters and publishers last year was $345,787 and internationally $96,940. COSCAP also paid out $220,220 locally and $201,940 internationally in related rights – for performers and producers
of sound recordings.

Smith said while she did not see a “full scale” Crop Over Festival taking place this year, which usually rakes in a portion of royalty payments, she was hoping that there would be some major events centered around Independence in November to help plug that hole.

Usually, Crop Over, the island’s premier summer festival, would run from around mid-June to the first Monday in August, when it climaxes with the grand Kadooment Day.

Given the array of entertainment events taking place during that time, it would allow for musicians, entertainers and other creative industry individuals to earn a lot of their revenue at that time of the year.

“Even if there is some activity I don’t expect the usual level of activity and I suppose it will depend on how quickly the vaccine roll out happens. But I am optimistic that as we go towards Independence that we will see an uptick. I am optimistic about the last quarter of the year,” said Smith.

COSCAP celebrated its 20th anniversary last year, but had to cancel several plans due to the pandemic.

Though disappointed that the non-profit, copyright organisation had to “really cut back” on anything it had planned last year, Smith told Today’s BUSINESS that she was eagerly looking to the future since there were a number of activities that would be rolled out to assist members.

Most recently, officials were hoping the move by one local radio station to play 100 per cent Barbadian content would result in more royalties for local artists.

Smith said while she observed there was an effort to be diverse, it was still too early to say if the five-month-old move has achieved favourable diversity in genre of music and artists, explaining that more performance logs had to be analysed.

In relation to royalties, she said having a radio station that played 100 per cent local content did not automatically equate to an improvement in royalties for local artists, explaining that it would require a high level of advertising since the royalties were based on such revenues.

“The current situation is one we have seen a drop in paid advertising. So that too will have an impact on the royalties that locals receive,” she said.

“Whilst I applaud having an attempt to bring some attention to local music, the worry I have is that the airplay becomes concentrated on that specific station, and I am also concerned about the demographic profile of listeners, meaning that I want the audience to be diverse as possible,” she reiterated.

marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb