If your music is performed in public – for example, clubs, bars, and concerts – or broadcast on radio, and/or TV you are entitled to royalty payments. This is because the Copyright Act of Trinidad & Tobago gives writers what are called "performing rights" which cover these uses of their music.

If your music is recorded on CD, used in a TV production or as mobile phone ringtone, then mechanical royalties are legally payable to you. Your own recordings, as well as recordings made by other people, generate mechanical royalties. For example, if your own recordings are licensed out for use by other record labels/executive producers on compilations, or the like, you are entitled to receive royalties for these reproductions of your music.

COTT does collectively what would otherwise be difficult for writers or music users to do on an individual basis. We license music users, collect licence fees and pay the owners of the performing and mechanical rights in the form of royalties.

Through reciprocal arrangements with performing right societies and mechanical rights agencies world-wide, COTT can also collect royalties for you when your music is played or recorded overseas. These arrangements essentially give Trinidad & Tobago’s composers and songwriters the same benefits as local composers and songwriters writers in many countries. Royalty payment is however subject to the existing copyright law in each country and the individual policies of the affiliated societies. See COTT affiliates

There are other benefits to joining COTT. As a member, you can purchase “the COTT card” for a nominal, one-time fee of $10.00 which entitles you to discounts at various shops and businesses. You will also be able to participate in a range of member activities including seminars, workshops, and awards.

Click here for the Publish Membership Application Form

Click here for the Writer Member Application Form