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Royalties judgement due this week
THE Supreme Court is scheduled to make a landmark decision this week regarding the issue of royalties paid to record producers/labels by the media for the use of their products.The case, involving the Jamaica Musical Rights Administration Society Limited (JAMRAS) and Radio Jamaica Limited, over JAMRAS' claim on behalf of its members that is owed approximately $1 million in outstanding royalties for the use of music recorded and/or distributed by them, closed in the Supreme Court on Wednesday and the a judgement is expected this week. JAMRAS is the local affiliate of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the international agency responsible for collecting royalties due to producers and labels or the owners of masters. Radio Jamaica, on the other hand, is claiming that it is paying royalties to the Jamaica Association of Composers, Authors and Publishers (JACAP), which replaced the British Performing Rights Society (BPRS) as the local collection agency for performing rights royalties on behalf of songwriters. JAMRAS is represented in the case by attorney-at-law Norman Wright, while Radio Jamaica is represented by Dennis Goffe. Veteran producer Clement 'Sir Coxsone' Dodd is releasing a compilation of songs on the Studio One label recorded by destitute singer Barry Brown by the first week of December. Mr. Dodd has named the CD Roots and Culture and has included among the tracks hits like Far East, Blazing Fire and Give Love A Try. The project also includes several songs which have never been released before, as well as a promising, new recording he did three weeks at Studio One titled Dance Tonight, recorded on the popular 'Mama' rhythm (first recorded by the Heptones). Mr. Dodd also plans to do a similar project with Ernest Wilson, another of the artistes which we featured recently in our articles on destitute veteran singers. Top Secret LabelWhile on the subject of veteran artistes, singer/keyboard player Mallory Williams and saxophonist Tony Greene, as you may well know by now, have teamed up to form the Top Secret label, which has focused on producing quality Jamaican music. The fact that quality Jamaican music does not sell that well at home has certainly not deterred the pair. Recently, they hosted a function at Carlos' Cafe, New Kingston, to launch their three latest projects Williams' compilation She Boom, his most recent studio album, Dance Reggae-Cha-Cha-Cha and Greene's Christmas album Blessed. Probably the most interesting of the trio of CDs is Williams' She Boom, because it compiles all the great hits he has recorded since the early 1980s, including the title song, as well as Reggae Gone Grammy, Irie Daughter and his cover of Memories By The Score. The first nine tracks of the CD were taken from the original She Boom album, released at the height of his career, while the final nine were recorded in the 1980s but were not released previously. He says that a Millennium 2 remix CD single of She Boom will be released shortly. His Dance Reggae Cha-Cha-Cha is an experiment with reggae and Latin rhythms. It is comprised of 10 originals and is dedicated to the memory of his late father, Luther Williams, a famous north coast pianist and bandleader. It includes the track Arawak Cha Cha, originally done by the elder Williams some 50 years ago. Mallory added new lyrics and rerecorded the song in English, Spanish and Portuguese. He also worked with a number of contemporary acts on this project, including URoy, Sugar Minott, Nana McLean and Mad Anju. Greene's new album is the follow-up to his label debut, Square From Cuba. It features tracks like Santa Claus (Do You Ever Come To The Ghetto), Home T's Rock It For Christmas and Mary's Boy Child which features Mallory Williams. Supporting Greene on the project were Dalton Browne, Pam Hall, Desi Young, Toni-Beth Vernon, Home-T, Randy Stewart, Sonia Livingstone, Kingsley Boyd, Donovan Pa and Christine Virgo.
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