Time for artists to fight for their rights

By INDERIA SAUNDERS ~ Guardian Business Reporter ~ inderia@nasguard.com:

Recording artists are lobbying for a first-of-its-kind intellectual property rights society to watch for abuses — coming as a local singer of the Bahamas launches a battle with a U.K. company for million of dollars in royalties from music sold online.

Seasoned pop, jazz and R&B singer Brad Lundy asserts that many local artists had problems in tracking their products due to a lack of knowledge on how to, among other reasons. It's one of the reasons he believes a society set up for such a position would benefit local artists greatly.

"We need an organization where we can sit down and talk and get feedback from one another, and try to understand what is needed and who needs what kind of help," Lundy, who's been in the business for the past 49 years, told Guardian Business. 

"You got to have management this is not something someone can do on their own."

His statements are currently being echoed around the industry, with newer recording artists Terneille Burrows recently echoing a need for such a watchdog group.

"I feel like we've made strides but we haven't for instance taken a stance like Trinidad, Barbados and Jamaica, where they have actual societies that monitor airplay by Caribbean artists and have a detailed tracking system in place," she explained. "So you can see songs are playing on radio and you can actually enjoy royalties from that.

"Being able to implement something like that here and have our own society would be [good]."

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