JAMMS launches nationwide crackdown to secure artistes’ pension

As the party season heats up across Jamaica, the Jamaica Music Society (JAMMS) is turning up the volume on copyright enforcement--and the stakes couldn't be higher for the nation's music creators.

With an estimated 20,000 events held annually featuring recorded music, JAMMS is now going all out to ensure every promoter pays their dues--because for artistes and producers, those dues are their pension.

JAMMS CEO Evon Mullings declared that the organisation is entering an aggressive six-month push to bring about full compliance across the island.

"We are working strategically with all relevant authorities, to heighten enforcement, by closing all the gaps and limiting the ability of promoters to stage an event without having all the required permits," he stated.

Since 2007, event promoters have been legally required to obtain a JAMMS permit to play recorded music publicly. Compliance has grown significantly, but a few stubborn promoters continue to sidestep the law. These permits--alongside approvals from parish councils, the Jamaica Association of Composers, Authors and Publishers, and the police--are essential. And now enforcement officers will be doubling down, especially in parishes that have been lagging behind.

JAMMS has reported strong compliance in parishes such as Westmoreland, St Ann, St Elizabeth, Trelawny and Kingston and St Andrew.

For Mullings and his team, it is important to get compliance in the other parishes. He said that this is not just a legal issue--it's a matter of protecting livelihoods.

"Strict, consistent and widespread enforcement can be the only way forward, if as a nation we are serious about respecting property rights, which includes intellectual property," said Mullings.

Music, he reminded the public, is property--just like a house or car. And when promoters fail to pay for its use, the financial blow lands squarely on the backs of those who created it.

"The copyright fees paid by event promoters are what allow music rights owners to earn their 'pension'," Mullings emphasised.