One Dominican has been elected to the board of directors of the Eastern Caribbean Collective Organisation for Music Rights (ECCO) Inc.
The ECCO board was elected at its reconvened Annual General Meeting on Saturday 6th April, 2019. It was adjourned on 16th March, 2019 due to technical issues associated with video conferencing between the Islands.
Krishna “Dada” Lawrence is Dominica’s representative on ECCO’s new 12-member governing body which includes eight St. Lucians and one member each from St. Vincent and the Grenadines, S. Kitts & Nevis, Grenada and Dominica.
The St. Lucia representatives on the new ECCO board are Buffalo Odlum, Crispin D’Auvergne, Gilroy Hall, Hugh James, Linda Berthier, Melissa Moses, Sanchez Music Publishing (represented by Ian Sanchez) and Stratosphere Music (represented by Courtney Louis).
The other board members are Lancelot Chapman from St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Vernalderine Francis of St. Kitts & Nevis, Wayne Green from Grenada and Krishna Lawrence from Dominica.
A release from ECCO stated that the the Chair and Vice Chair of the Board will be elected at the first sitting of the Board which is scheduled for a date no later than 19th April, 2019.
“We would like thank the outgoing board members and Chairman, Mr. Martin James. We are grateful for their contribution to the organization we wish them the very best,” ECCO stated in the release. “We extend a special thank you to all members who attended the meeting and we encourage them to keep up the level of participation and interest, feel free to visit or contact the office for any questions, queries or general information which they may need with regards to the organisation.”
The release added that this is in keeping with ECCO’s goal of being transparent and accountable to the membership.
The Eastern Caribbean Collective Organization for Music Rights (ECCO) Inc. is an association of composers, songwriters and music publishers and is the legal entity responsible for administering the performing rights of its members and members of Affiliated Societies within the OECS States. Through reciprocal agreements with affiliated societies, ECCO is responsible for licensing all public use of music in the Eastern Caribbean, irrespective of which country the songwriter is from.
Daryl Bobb was Dominica’s representative on the previous ECCO board of directors. He told DNO that he did not seek re-election for reasons which will be disclosed at a later time.
Below is the video of an interview with ECCO CEO, Davis Joseph.
I still don’t understand why the board of ECCO has 8 St. Lucians and the remainder 4 to represent the 4 countries. It’s disproportionate representation and it can lead to disenfranchisement of the other countries. There isn’t even a representative from Antigua? To me something isn’t right with this body, and I hope to hear Bobb’s impression of the goings on of this organization when he is ready.
Sounds like St. Lucia trying to adopt Dada.