The mu­si­cal land­scape of Trinidad and To­ba­go is an ex­treme­ly vi­brant one and has at­tract­ed its share of ad­min­is­tra­tive ef­forts over the years, with copy­right ad­min­is­tra­tion be­ing the most promi­nent. Yet in spite of this there is a gap in the ad­min­is­tra­tion of mu­sic rights in the ter­ri­to­ry, in terms of the area of the rights of per­form­ers and the pro­duc­ers of sound record­ings. These rights are known as re­lat­ed rights which are very sim­i­lar to copy­right. The leg­is­la­tion in T&T grants per­form­ers and pro­duc­ers rights in their per­for­mances and the coun­try is par­ty to the rel­e­vant in­ter­na­tion­al con­ven­tions con­cern­ing these rights. Un­for­tu­nate­ly, whilst the pri­ma­ry at­ten­tion has been on mu­sic copy­right (song­writ­ers and pub­lish­ers), re­lat­ed rights own­ers have not had the ben­e­fit of hav­ing their rights ad­min­is­tered. The T&T As­so­ci­a­tion of Per­form­ers and Pro­duc­ers (TAPPs) is an or­gan­i­sa­tion ded­i­cat­ed to the ad­min­is­tra­tion of re­lat­ed rights in T&T. Sim­ply put, Re­lat­ed Rights are the rights that ex­ist in record­ed mu­sic (sound record­ings) which are owned by two par­ties; pro­duc­ers and per­form­ers. When mu­sic is cre­at­ed (com­posed) im­me­di­ate­ly copy­right ex­ists in that com­po­si­tion. Copy­right be­longs to the com­pos­er, au­thors and pub­lish­ers of such cre­ations.

How­ev­er, when mu­si­cal com­po­si­tions are record­ed, the record­ed work em­bod­ies not on­ly the mu­si­cal com­po­si­tion, but al­so the per­for­mances of the vo­cal­ists and mu­si­cians and these record­ings are as the re­sult of the con­tri­bu­tion of the pro­duc­er(s) of that record­ing. Re­lat­ed Rights (al­so known as Neigh­bour­ing Rights, Right of the Per­former and Per­form­ers Rights) are the con­cern of these pro­duc­ers and per­form­ers.

Mu­sic users must be aware that when record­ed mu­sic is used, not on­ly is the au­tho­ri­sa­tion of the copy­right own­ers nec­es­sary but al­so those of the re­lat­ed rights own­ers. The broad­cast of record­ed mu­sic, the play­ing of mu­sic by ra­dio and tele­vi­sion in pub­lic spaces, the play­ing of record­ed mu­sic in restau­rants and bars, ho­tels, of­fices, etc are just some of the in­stances where re­lat­ed rights li­cences will be ap­plic­a­ble.

TAPPs brings to the in­dus­try not on­ly lo­cal ad­min­is­tra­tion but al­so the op­por­tu­ni­ty for in­creased rev­enue to its mem­bers (pro­duc­ers and per­form­ers) from in­ter­na­tion­al ter­ri­to­ries across the globe. This is pos­si­ble through rec­i­p­ro­cal agree­ments with oth­er so­ci­eties around the world that are en­gaged in re­lat­ed rights ad­min­is­tra­tion.The pro­duc­ers, singers, mu­si­cians of every genre of mu­sic in T&T are in­vit­ed to mem­ber­ship in TAPPs to reap the ben­e­fits of be­ing part of the in­ter­na­tion­al fra­ter­ni­ty of re­lat­ed rights ad­min­is­tra­tion. The fu­ture looks bright for pro­duc­ers and per­form­ers of T&T. TAPPS will play its part in mak­ing it brighter.