From ZIP FM

Culture and Entertainment Minister Olivia Grange, has urged Caribbean countries to place greater emphasis on monetising intellectual property (IP).

Addressing the Association of Caribbean Copyright Societies (ACCS) Regional Conference at the Royalton Negril Resort in Hanover yesterday, the Minister said only a targeted multi-disciplinary approach to monetising IP, which includes the public and private sectors, will help Caribbean economies increase value-added and gain a greater share of the global economy.

The Minister noted that as the Caribbean’s traditional export sectors – sugar, banana and bauxite – have stagnated in large part due to lack of economies of scale, increased competition in the global market, and/or high production costs, “our creativity has increased, yet we earn a mere pittance from those earnings.”

Turning to the issue of copyright and royalties in Jamaica, Ms. Grange said although there have been modest increases in the collection of distributable royalties by the Jamaica Association of Composers, Authors and Publishers (JACAP) over the last few years, most of the funds have to be paid over to foreign entities, due to the high level of usage of non-Jamaican material.

The Minister said although alarming, the imbalance in royalty payments represents both a challenge and an opportunity to decrease consumption of foreign content in the country’s tourism product, on the airwaves and in public spaces, while offering an opportunity to increase local content through quotas.

She also expressed concern about the impact technological advancement in the digital environment has been having on music, and urged the ACCS to be advocates and vanguards in the challenging technological environment.

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