Jamaican artists and musicians earn no performance royalties when their recordings play on Jamaican radio, because the island’s Copyright Act still gives performers no right to be paid for broadcast or public performance. The same recording played in London, Paris or on US satellite radio does pay them, through a Kingston collecting society that has been building pipes around the gap since 2007.
If you release Jamaican repertoire, the order you register things in decides whether that foreign money ever reaches you.
Where the gap comes from
WPPT means the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty. Jamaica signed it in 2002. Article 15 obliges members to pay performers and producers an equitable remuneration when recordings are broadcast.
Jamaica’s 2015 amendment added some performer rights but left Articles 10 and 15 out, so there is “presently no express right of equitable remuneration for performers,” as a Jamaica Observer commentary set out. JAMMS general manager Evon Mullings told The Gleaner in December 2021 that the fix had been stuck at the Attorney General’s chambers since early 2016.
It is still not fixed. JAMMS’ own membership page says performer membership “is currently limited to international collections for Jamaica-based performers.” The Chambers 2026 Jamaica guide (Foga Daley, updated 17 February 2026) adds that new Copyright (Licensing Bodies) Regulations were gazetted in December 2025 but are not yet in effect.
How the money moves instead
CMO means collective management organisation. JAMMS, the Jamaica Music Society, is the CMO for record producers and, abroad, for performers. Songwriters are a separate lane, handled by JACAP.
Its timeline shows how the routes were built:
- 2010: bilateral producer deal with PPL, the UK society.
- 2012: bilateral agreement with SoundExchange in the US; twice-yearly distributions begin.
- 2017: a second PPL deal, this time for performers.
- 2020: an expanded partnership taking coverage past 40 territories.
The 2017 performer deal was unilateral, as Andre Paine reported for Music Week in February 2021. PPL pays in; nothing flows back, because Jamaican law gives JAMMS nothing to collect for foreign performers. Mullings told The Gleaner the same missing reciprocity has blocked performer deals with societies in some major markets, the US among them.
The 2020 PPL expansion plugged JAMMS into PPL’s 100-plus international agreements. Mullings told DancehallMag (Claudia Gardner, March 2021) that membership had passed 1,400. He also estimated four to five thousand artists were still unrepresented.
What JAMMS actually asks for
The rules are short, per its FAQ and member guide:
- Producers: own 100% of the master in at least three commercially released recordings.
- Performers: at least ten released recordings, or proof of one song on multiple radio playlists in the US, UK, Germany, France or elsewhere in Europe within 24 months.
- Cost: no application or membership fee.
- Waiting period: six months after approval before you join a distribution pool.
- New releases: register within two weeks of release, with ISRC, label and correctly spelled artist names.
- Non-members: JAMMS holds no royalties for you. Money is matched only to registered recordings.
Local payouts run twice a year. Foreign money arrives “from once per year to several times per year,” depending on when partner societies pay.
The checklist for a Jamaican release
Sort the codes first
ISRC means International Standard Recording Code, the ID every society matches plays against. JAMMS has been Jamaica’s national ISRC agency since 2015, so a producer can hold their own prefix rather than inherit a distributor’s.
Register before the airplay, not after
The six-month qualifying period and two-week registration window mean a track that breaks on UK radio in its first month can fall outside the next pool if paperwork lags.
Take the US money directly
US non-interactive digital radio is paid through SoundExchange, which pays featured artists and master owners directly each month at a 4 to 6% admin rate. Featured artists should register there regardless of their JAMMS status.
Clean metadata turns a society’s reach into a statement, which is why InterSpace Distribution locks ISRC ownership and full contributor credits at delivery. For the streaming side of the same catalogue, see how dancehall’s money lives in the diaspora. For neighbours that did legislate, compare Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago.
