August 22, 2019

Twenty-one years after its founding, the Jamaica Association of Composers, Authors and Publishers (JACAP) will host its inaugural Awards ceremony at the Spanish Court Hotel on August 31. The event, a strictly by invitation banquet will honour the visionaries who conceived the creation of JACAP and have overseen its development alongside the creative geniuses whose works will be lauded on the night.

At a recent planning meeting Lydia Rose, General Manager at JACAP noted that "In the 21 years since JACAP was established we have made tremendous advances in the areas of collections and licensing. We have increased our collections for broadcast royalties, background music and music at concerts, events, and venues. We have also formalised and legalised the collections in the electronic media and introduced new technologies to make such collections and payments, fairer and more accurate. All this has been to the benefit of our primary members, authors, composers and publishers. They now receive larger payments on a more efficient and speedy basis. JACAP has been a game changer for Jamaican music".

Chairman of JACAP, Stephen Stewart spoke to the need to establish the JACAP Awards. "We, the board members of JACAP, thought it was important to mark our 'coming of age' in an appropriate and meaningful manner and eventually we all agreed that establishing the JACAP Awards was the answer. The Awards will not only honour those who have made JACAP important namely composers, authors, and publishers but also the users of works. It will give public awareness to those who are in background, quietly creating the popular songs while in many instances the performing artistes get all the praise, credit and glory. You may not notice the names of the creators when you watch a video on TV or YouTube , but you will see them being honoured at our ceremony".

The event will feature a keynote address by guest speaker, the Honourable Olivia Grange, Minister of Culture and also has slated to speak the Honourable Audley Shaw, Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries. It is expected that a large turnout of JACAP members as well as entertainment industry luminaries will be on hand to welcome JACAP into the annual awards calendar and share in the historic event.

JACAP Board Members hard at work planning the Inaugural JACAP Awards