BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Aug. 10, 2017–Music Ambassador and political aspirant, Shyne Barrow, has today officially resigned from his post as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Belizean Society of Composers, Authors, Publishers (BSCAP).
Amandala saw his resignation letter sent to the BSCAP membership which is filled with a number of reasons for his sudden resignation from the organization tasked with protecting the intellectual property rights of our local artists.
In the letter, Barrow claimed that his predecessor, Heather Cunningham, a Belizean lawyer living in the US, who is the current chair of the BSCAP board, is claiming $600,000 to cover her expenses and salary for the period 2010-2013.
According to Barrow, in reference to Cunningham’s claims, there is, “absolutely nothing to show as far as generating revenues or getting the nation to be copyright compliant.”
Barrow took the opportunity to blast the BSCAP, who, he said, at this year’s Annual General Meeting, proposed to distribute among members $2,500 but spent $4,000 on travel expenses for Cunningham.
He said that if divided among the membership, it would constitute “the equivalent of $12 per writer member and little more for producer members.”
“I cannot defend the approach of administrative expenses first and BSCAP members last,” Barrow wrote.
He added, “I didn’t sign up to collect monies in order to pay off $600,000 in obscene debt my predecessor ladened (sic) BSCAP with.”
Barrow asserted that BSCAP is a non-profit organization that should focus on its members instead of being focused only on collecting money to cover administrative costs and to sponsor international affiliates.
He ended his letter claiming that he could not be a part of BSCAP and has lost confidence that BSCAP is looking out for the best interests of the artists.
Amandala could not reach Barrow. We were promised comment from Cunningham tonight through a source, but we did not get it.
BSCAP tonight issued a statement claiming that it has not received Barrow’s resignation letter, and therefore cannot comment.