NEWS UPDATE NOVEMBER 13, 2007
The organization of an official depository of Jamaican music is essential to its preservation, as such JACAP demonstrated its support of the legal deposit of recorded music at the National Library of Jamaica on October 11, 2007. A number of our members deposited their work simultaneously.
Naturally this exercise will be on-going.
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------------------------------------------------------------------NOTICE
The Jamaica Association of Composers, Authors and Publishers (JACAP) will hold its 7th Annual General Meeting on Sunday, November 25, 2007 at 10:00 a.m. at the Medallion Hall Hotel, 53 Hope Road Kingston 10 All Members or proxies should take
along their notices or valid ID cards.
MOVING NOTICE:
We have relocated to our new office premises.
21 Connolley Avenue, Kingston 4.
Kindly note that our new telephone numbers are:
876-948-6439 & 876-948-5937
Fax: 876-922-1638
We look forward to be of service to you better at our new location.
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NEWSLETTER AUGUST 1, 2007
In this Issue:
• Message from the General Manager
• Message from the Chairman
• What does JACAP do for its member?
• What does JACAP do for music user?
• Who needs a JACAP license?
Message from the General Manager
Greetings Members and Friends,
It is a pleasure to offer this, our first, newsletter to you our members and stakeholders. It is my hope that you will find the information contained in these quarterly newsletters informative and helpful.
I would like to take the opportunity, in this issue, to thank all members that supported our Annual General Meeting and to encourage others to attend where possible all future annual general meetings.
An AGM is a very important event in the life of any organization as it provides an opportunity for stakeholders to scrutinize and ask questions about the operations of the organization for the previous year. It is also a time that as members you have the opportunity to elect other members of the Society to the Board as the occasion presents itself.
We at JACAP consider ourselves a family and as such an AGM is not only a time to do business it is also a time to socialize and to meet other members.
Hugh Beckford
Message from the Chairman
The JACAP Newsletter is finally here and not a moment too soon. It has taken a while but thanks to efforts of the general manager, Hugh Beckford and his already over pressured staff this new vehicle of communication is now on the road. At our Annual General Meetings (AGM) one of the points coming from the membership continually was that there was a need for more than sporadic information from the office, this newsletter will hopefully fill that need, along with all the other purposes that it will serve over time.
While the request from the members for information is a desirable situation there is also a certain responsibility that rests with the membership that must not be ignored. Chief of these is that the members must be aware of how JACAP functions and what their role is in maintaining the efficient administration of the rights of music creators. First and foremost JACAP is a members organisation and because of its function and structure a “collective management society”. The historic meaning of this term, as it relates to copyright societies, is simply creators forming a collective (coming together) to administer their rights. JACAP is part of an international network of like societies so the rights of our members are protected in territories with these societies just as their members’ rights are protected here through JACAP. the Chairman.
Having said all of that we co me back to he members’ role.
MEMBERS MUST ENSURE that:
(a) The society always has their latest contact information. Too often the office cannot find individuals at the addresses and phone numbers that are on the files. In addition to wanting to distribute royalties to these members, there may be other reasons for wanting to find persons, for example, to clarify ownership and shares of rights in works that come to our attention with incomplete data.
(b) Timely and proper “notification of works”. Again far too frequently members are not informing the office of their latest works. This is a dangerous omission that could prove costly, as in a lot of cases our members work with others who are not necessarily members of JACAP. When these “others” register the works with their societies, often times “forgetting” to mention our members’ involvement, it is usually quite late in the game when this fact is brought to our notice. Corrective procedures take time and usually some royalty payments may have already taken place, which did not include YOU, the JACAP member.
All the above lead to a particular point that has been made time and time again VIGILANCE . Members must continue to be watchful and fearless. Watchful in that whenever you hear your works being used in whatever manner inform the society. If the user is compliant (has a license/permit from JACAP) royalties are due to you. Fearless in that a friendly query of a user may prove informative to that user and beneficial to you. The query, DO YOU HAVE A JACAP LICENSE? Unfortunately the present staff complement does not allow the office to be all seeing, and even if it did, a proactive member is a great help to our success.
Finally just a word on distribution. Members are again reminded that royalties are paid only on active works. This means that you must have works that are CURRENTLY being performed and broadcast. Now while UPA payments have been made, it worthy of note that, this is done at the discretion of the Board. This practice will not continue indefinitely. UPA means Unlogged Performance Allocation, so even though members’ works are not in the data received from users a sum is still set aside from local collections for this purpose.
In future issues JACAP’s relations with other societies and international affiliations will be discussed, but for the time being let us do what we have to do and support the JACAP Newsletter.
Steve Golding
What does JACAP do for its members?
JACAP members are composers, lyricists and music publishers. JACAP looks after the performing right (and if the members so agree also the mechanical/reproduction right) in their works. It would be almost impossible for the individual creators to keep track of public performances, and broadcasts, of their music across Jamaica and the rest of the world, and to issue licenses and collect fees due, so organizations like JACAP do it on their behalf.
What does JACAP do for music users?
It is a well known fact that music is good for business. By taking out a JACAP licence and paying the appropriate fee any music user can legally use just about any music, from anywhere in the world, since JACAP is a part of the international network of similar societies. [The umbrella organisation for copyright societies is CISAC – The International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers – and JACAP is a member].
Who needs a JACAP license?
JACAP Public Performance licenses are required by premises which use music. These range from concert halls and dance halls through public houses, hotels and restaurants to ships, aircraft, hairdressers, doctors' and dentists' waiting rooms and even telephone 'holding' systems.
A JACAP licence is usually reassessed annually.
A JACAP licence is also required by every radio and television service and almost every satellite service based in Jamaica as well as by cable operators for certain of their services. But these licenses only cover the original transmission into private homes not to public places that use radio and/or television to provide entertainment or atmosphere for patrons, the general public or staff. The operators of these premises require a separate licence.