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OECS Music Industry Looks to the Future
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OECS Music Industry Looks to the Future
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Addressing the opening of a two-day workshop for musicians from the Organisation
of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS),
the minister threw out a suggestion
to OECS investors to set up a state of the art recording studio to serve the
region’s needs. “I want to suggest that
musicians and their affiliates forge closer strategic ties both in the
composition and in the recording of music,” Pierre said. He said Government’s support
for the industry should be expressed through creating the necessary enabling
environment for the industry to flourish. He also said investors in the music
industry should be entitled to the same treatment as investors in other
industries.
The
workshop is examining a report on the OECS music industry prepared by Dr. Keith
Nurse of the University of the West Indies.
“For a
long time, our sector has been
neglected I would say from two sides of the coin which is that we were never
considered a part of the economy and therefore polices were never directed at
this sector but also from the other side of the coin, we as the Caribbean music
industry have not been organized enough and have not been properly positioned to
do our advocacy on our own behalf,”
Dr. Nurse said. In
remarks, Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Community Development and
Culture, Jon Odlum, noted there was growing awareness among producers, composers
and performers of their rights. Pointing to a crying need for copyrighting assistance, Odlum promised that the Government of St Lucia will “do all in its power to ensure that OECS music is protected” for the benefit of its creators. |
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Thursday,
July 26, 2001
In
remarks at the opening session, Dr. Nurse said the OECS music industry had great
potential as a source of employment and foreign exchange earnings. However, he
said this potential was underdeveloped because of a weak institutional base, the
high level of piracy and other forms of infringement.