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Get Your Party License!
Consumers, do you know that public performances require a license? The Carnival season is here again; so if you are throwing a party, here are a few tips for you:
- Any performance that is outside of the normal domestic circle is public. At any public party, both the promoter and the DJ are required to obtain a license from the Copyright Organization of Trinidad and Tobago (COTT) and/or the Trinidad and Tobago Copyright Organization (TTCO) to play music. This applies even if the DJ is at a house party or 'blocko'.
- It is of no consequence whether the public performance is given live or by means of a radio, television, stereo player, jukebox, video or karaoke. Neither does it matter if no admission fee is charged nor whether the performers are paid or not. Further the possession of a record, tape or CD does not grant the right to perform that music in public. In each of these instances a license is necessary.
- During Carnival, registered DJs are offered a special taping concession that authorizes the recording of compilation music for the purpose of performing such music on trucks.
A license is not required for:
- The playing of music in the privacy of your home.
- Performances during religious services in churches or other established places of worship.
- Live performances of musicals, operas, ballets and other dance performances.
- Live performances of specially written music for plays or other dramatic or theatrical productions.
Consumers, if any of the following occurs without obtaining a license, legal action for copyright infringement may be instituted.
- Performance in public;
- The manufacture or import of sound carriers, films or videos which reproduce copyright music; and
- The recording of a commercial advertisement of a musical work.
Such action may be in the form of civil or criminal proceedings.
Remember, the power is yours!
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