The Copyright Music Organisation of Trinidad and Tobago (COTT) is a non -profit organisation incorporated on July 10, 1984. COTT was the first national Collective Management Organisation (CMO) to be established in the Caribbean. Its main function is to manage and license collectively on behalf of music creators and their publishers as well as international affiliates, the performing and reproduction rights in their copyright music under the Copyright Act 1997 of Trinidad & Tobago. In this capacity, COTT collects fees from the users of copyright music and distributes the money as royalties to the writers and publishers who own the copyright. The organisation is a strong advocate for the protection of musical works in Trinidad and Tobago and is the leading collecting society in the Caribbean region for distribution to its members and expertise.