There are those of course, who are not so worried about the end of the world, as they are about the end of “Another World”. On January 1st, 2000, international copyright laws come into effect and we will be forced to lower our skull and crossbones. All those NBA games, all those championship fights, all those box office hits, all those favorite songs on the radio and the soap operas that have us enthralled; they will all thereafter, carry separate fees. HBO, TMC, Cartoon Network will have to be paid for individually. And in case you didn’t know it, the only reason that we receive them collectively and so cheaply, is because someone has been pirating them for us.

Ironically enough, a few years ago when I made God laugh by trying to beat this one pirate at his own game, I was actually threatened with a lawsuit; seems that he is now the one that will have to be facing the jury. Now we were told by Mr. Glen Tillett and a panel of copyright experts this week, that it is not a matter of whether we want copyright laws or not, but rather just how much we will pay and how these moneys will be collected. In a two-day seminar at the Radisson Fort George this week, the mechanics were supposed to have been explained, but at the end of the day, many were left still scratching their heads.

Implementing copyright laws will not be an easy task and for it to work, it will have to depend mostly on moral rectitude. All that I can say, is that I wish them luck. Of course, copyright laws does indeed provide some incentive for our local artists, whose work will be protected from exploitation, but for our artists to benefit in anyway, they will have to come up to par with universal standards. If any artist is out there thinking that they will be growing rich just because a copyright law is in effect, there will be a rude awakening coming. Many also believe that copyright will force radio stations to play local music, but the way that works actually is that stations pay a percentage of their advertising income to a collection agency regardless of whose music is played.

That agency then distributes royalties, which many times is a mere pittance after administrative costs are met. Seeing then that stations will have to pay whether they play local or foreign music will mean that they will still have to meet the demand of their listeners. The onus then will be on the local artists to produce quality material and I hate to be the one to break this news, but except for one or two decent efforts, our local boys have not been exactly tearing up the record charts.

The incentive is here, however, and if perchance there should come another Conch Soup opportunity, the innovator of that idea would then be entitled by law to adequate compensation. Copyright laws are a part of an irreversible trend toward ultimate globalization and there is nothing that can be done to prevent it. The big challenge now, will be for Belize to put into place the necessary programs and incentives that will encourage and help to develop the talent of our future generations that will place them in a position to be protected by copyright laws. Copyright in effect, only ensures that whatever an artist creates remains his or her exclusive property and is protected from sale or reproduction without that artist’s consent. It in no way guarantees that an artist’s work will sell, for that will depend solely on the quality of work produced. At this point and most likely for quite some time to come, copyright will be costing our nation, a whole lot more than it will be giving to our artists. Let us hope that we can dig deep enough into our creative reserves to produce the quality entertainment that will be able to replace that which we will be losing.