The Copyright Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Inc. (COSCAP) has reported a decline in overall revenue for the period 2010 to 2011 but a slight increase in revenue from licensing.
The association recorded 5.3 per cent growth in revenue from licensing for the period under review after a 5.5 per cent loss for 2009 to 2010.
In 2010, new licensing was dominated primarily by restaurants, bars and hotels but in 2011, shops were included.
Licensing agent Alison Mullin also revealed that the Almond Beach Village closure in St Peter has put a major dent in the association’s earnings from licensing so far for 2012.
News of this came during a media conference at the company’s Belleville, St Michael office last Friday.
“We have had some major closures. Almond [Beach Village] was one of our biggest hotels who had a licence. We find that a lot of the smaller restaurants are closing [down] now or in some cases might be reducing how they [are] using the music [by] moving into smaller spaces and that also reduces the cost of the licence,” said Mullin.
The cost of licences for restaurants is based on seating. COSCAP also provides a number of other licences, including those for (recording) reproduction and (one-night) performances.
Chief executive officer Erica Smith said that in fiscal 2009 to 2010 there was a drop in performance licensing. She attributed this to the harsh economic climate, the loss of some major events, including the Barbados Jazz Festival, and a decline from their main money earner – the Crop Over Festival.
Although single events remain one of the major sources of revenues for the association, earnings from such events have been on the decline. Smith said earnings from broadcast were not where they should be and this “reflects the fact that the situation with broadcast in Barbados is outside of the norm”. (MM)
