The Copyright Organisation of Trinidad and Toboago (COTT) changed their distribution rules. Songs including copyrighted material from another source will be held in suspense as long as there is no written authorisation for use of the sample.
This is nothing new in the (international) world of publishing rights, but especially in the last few years Trinidadian artists claimed ownership for adapted songs. As a result of this it was not possible to release the songs legally on the international market without “clearing” the sample.
This new rule effects the roadmarch competition where artists often use well-known hooklines from pop songs as ear-catcher. Not one single tune of the last few years was cleared by the original owner.
The discussion about foreign material in carnival tunes started last year at about the same time. Many hit tunes contained samples and melodies from pop songs (remember Destra’s ‘Bonnie and Clyde’, adapted from A-Ha). The TUCO announced a rule for the roadmarch competition, that tunes must not include foreign material.
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