Robert Livingston - Contributed

Some promoters have come in for scathing criticism from Scikron/Big Yard CEO Robert Livingston with regards to their reluctance to seek permission from studios before they use their songs to promote events.

Livingston was speaking exclusively with THE WEEKEND STAR recently, shortly after the unauthorised use of one of the studio's most popular hits was used to promote an event that was held a few weeks ago.

The move by promoters, Livingston said, almost cost him, because at the time, he was negotiating for the song to be used in the campaign for the Smirnoff Dream Weekend, set for the Emancipation weekend in late July.

exploiting record

"A lot of promoters and people who are into exploiting record for commercial uses have to now look into now clearing the songs with the copyright's owner because this is what we live for," Livingston explained. "If I have a popular song and you can take it and do what you want with it and you don't help me to promote it in any way because sometimes they use these songs in a commercial and they think they are helping the song, but they're using a popular song. I have never heard them use a song that is not popular."

In this instance, the popular song that was used to promote the event was Richie Loop's My Cupp, a song which has dominated local charts and also doing well in several markets overseas.

"I had a deal that I had done with Smirnoff, and it doesn't look good that I have a deal with Smirnoff and then they just take my song and use it," Livingston said, the anger heavy in his tone.

He said that the use of My Cupp in the commercials jeopardized his agreement with Smirnoff.

"I went to them and said I haven't used the song in any other commercial and after I said that to them, two minutes later there is a commercial running on the radio," he said. "And I am like, where did this come from? They have no authorization to do that."

Repeated efforts to reach the promoters of the event failed.

What has to happen, if the entertainment industry is to be cleaned up, is that the rights of others need to be respected. "Not just on music," he said. "We need to start looking into those things because our market is small and you have people who live directly off their music. I don't want to say my thing is exclusive, whether it's money or I just give you the rights to use it, something has to be done."

Livingston opined that the music industry in Jamaica is becoming more organised and everyone is recognising that players in the industry are losing big on the financial side of the business. "So whatever ways that the music can be used in branding other similar means it's a form of income, so when someone deprives you of that it's taking away a big portion of your income."