Our History
Prior to the establishment of COTT, The Performing Right Society Limited (PRS) of the UK operated an agency in this territory as it continues to do in some English-speaking territories in the Caribbean. COTT was the first national collecting society to be established in the Caribbean and began operating in 1985.
Diana Derrick was the PRS Agent in T&T from 1980 until the formation of COTT when she became its first Manager. She tells her story of where it all began.
WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
It was in 1983 that the late Denis de Freitas, as legal adviser to the UK Performing Right Society (PRS), recommended that, in tandem with Caribbean governments working towards up-to-date copyright legislation, creators of musical works should consider establishing their own national societies in at least Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and possibly Guyana.
History shows it was only in T&T that any action was taken at that time. Following on from penning a draft Copyright Bill for CARICOM, de Freitas drafted a Copyright Bill for T&T and worked with Dr. Edwin Watkins, Chairman of the Law Reform Commission, to bring it to Parliament.
Thus, the impetus for the formation of a society came from two quarters – PRS and the T&T Government. Knowing full well that the PRS members were unlikely to pick up the baton and establish a society without some help, Ms Derrick decided to kick-start the effort.
The initial meeting committee comprised the late Richard “Nappy” Mayers, Bro. Resistance (Lutalo Masimba), Seko Tafari, Wade Simon, Arnold Shuffler, James Lloyd, Llewellyn Mac Intosh, Francis Escayg, and Seadly Joseph. We owed gratitude to de Freitas who helped us a great deal with advice and legal documents, a constitution, and rules.
MEMBERS OF THE FIRST BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND STAFF
Our Logo
Since inception, our logs have attracted widespread attention and has been the subject of much favourable comment.
Our current logo features a circle representing the world, superimposed by a musical note that is intended to indicate COTT’s principal concern, with a wedge-shaped segment designating the organisation’s overall contribution to, and place in, the wider world of music.
