{"id":20407,"date":"2026-09-21T16:08:42","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T16:08:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interspacemusic.com\/blog\/jamaica-performers-no-radio-royalties-jamms-ppl-soundexchange\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T16:10:29","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T16:10:29","slug":"jamaica-performers-no-radio-royalties-jamms-ppl-soundexchange","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/interspacemusic.com\/blog\/jamaica-performers-no-radio-royalties-jamms-ppl-soundexchange\/","title":{"rendered":"Jamaica Pays Performers Nothing for Radio Airplay. The UK Has Paid Them Since 2017."},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n

If you release Jamaican repertoire, the order you register things in decides whether that foreign money ever reaches you.<\/p>\n

Where the gap comes from<\/h2>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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<\/a> commentary set out. JAMMS general manager Evon Mullings told The Gleaner<\/a> in December 2021 that the fix had been stuck at the Attorney General’s chambers since early 2016.<\/p>\n

It is still not fixed. JAMMS’ own membership page<\/a> says performer membership “is currently limited to international collections for Jamaica-based performers.” The Chambers 2026 Jamaica guide<\/a> (Foga Daley, updated 17 February 2026) adds that new Copyright (Licensing Bodies) Regulations were gazetted in December 2025 but are not yet in effect.<\/p>\n

How the money moves instead<\/h2>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Its timeline<\/a> shows how the routes were built:<\/p>\n