Dear Editor,
I am asking the President and Finance Minister to kindly reinstate music royalties for Guyanese recording artistes. This is our legal right and it was the norm for royalties to be paid annually by our only radio station up to 1992. This international practice which was shared by Guyana up until 1992, ceased when Guyana silently and mysteriously broke ranks with this legal principle in 1993. Guyana now stands as perhaps the only state with the least number of radio stations and an unhealthy refusal to pay royalties on the music it plays in accordance with the international copyright conventions it has signed. This matter should be resolved before any additional radio licence is allocated.
This matter of music copyright royalty was raised in the local press several times over the past 20 years and again during the first quarter of 2012. Reinstatement and compensation for loss was discussed. Letters dealing with this issue were delivered in April of 2012 to the offices of the Attorney General, the Leader of APNU and the Chairman of AFC.
Kindly correct this situation.
Yours faithfully,
Berkeley Houston
Recording Artiste
