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The issue of IP is certainly high on the agenda
for the CCIMU with the aim to manage the
registration, regulation and the enforcement
of IP. To achieve this, there will need to be a
harmonised or central legal framework through
which rights associated with literary and artistic
works, performances, of performing artistes,
phonograms and broadcasts, industrial designs,
trademarks, and patents at a minimum, can be
registered. There will need to be collaboration
with national or regional institutions such as the
Association of Caribbean Copyrights Societies
(ACCS), which represents the region’s collective
management organisations. Within the CCIMU,
the data collection armwill maintain a registry of
all registered IP in the region requiring a trained
workforce knowledgeable in this area who can
work with financial institutions on IP valuation.
The increased development of the region’s
creative industries will support job creation in
the areas of supplemental roles giving need for the
management of technical training in the sectors
at the secondary and tertiary levels, as well as in
arts administration, management and cultural
entrepreneurship. An alliance with international
institutions to facilitate exchanges and provide
scholarships would also engender growth of an
effective skill based industry to support the sector.
Another key driver for work in the creative
industries is the omnipresence of the online
world in everyday life. The creative industries
have been both at the forefront of heralding a
new digital age, through the creation of video
games and the cross-over between creativity and
technological innovation in the start-up sector.
Globalisation and the convergence ofmultimedia
and telecommunications technologies have
transformed consumers frompassive recipients of
culturalmessages into active co-creators of creative
content. Digital distribution in industries such as
design andmusic has transformed global markets
and allowed new industries and consumers
to emerge in developing regions. According to
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), it was estimated
that licensed digital distribution of recorded
music would rise from US$653 million in 2005
to US$4.9 billion in 2010, which represented a
49.5% compound annual increase. In fact, digital
music revenues rose fromUS$400million in2004
to US$3.7 billion in 2008 and US$5.9 billion in
2013.Moreover, PwChas revealed that it has since
been estimated that digital recordedmusic revenue
will overtake physical in 2015 and streaming will
overtake downloads in 2017, thus consumer
spending will be on digital formats and services.
Clearing the Hurdles
86
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