A NUMBER of local rap artistes were "hip-hopping mad" yesterday as they staged a protest outside the Port of Spain offices of Citadel Ltd, demanding royalties for their music, which they said has been played "religiously" by two of the three frequencies owned by the media house.

However, Louis Lee Sing, chairman of the group, last evening said he was not prepared to be "bullied" by any group into "paying royalties, which we don't necessarily have to pay".

Citadel is the parent company of I95.5 FM, urban radio station 96.7 FM and the easy-listening 107.7 FM.

The hip-hop artistes, some of whom fall under the Hi Way records label, were headed by artiste Richard Rajcoomar.

Awesome Ltd, a two-and-a-half-year-old company based in Tunapuna, was authorised to collect royalties on behalf of the artistes. The Copyright Organisation of Trinidad and Tobago (COTT) also collects royalties on behalf of artistes, but Rajcoomar said they picked Awesome because it "does it in a better way".

Rajcoomar said, "My group, Chromatics, received a lot of airplay this year, so far. We assigned Awesome, which is a fairly new collection agency, not COTT, the rights to collect our royalties."

He said when Awesome approached the radio stations to collect the royalties generated by 1,000-plus plays in five months, they were notified they (the stations) "don't feel the need to pay".

Rajcoomar said Awesome has a computer programme known as digital footprinting, which notes every time a song is played on a radio station in Trinidad and Tobago, including the time and date the song was played.

He noted, however, what prompted yesterday's protest was a letter from Lee Sing, responding to Awesome's demand for royalties. In the letter, Lee Sing informed Awesome's president, Patrice Fortune, Citdel had "taken steps to ensure no further airplay of the artistes provided on your list".

Asked how they felt about the apparent decision to take their music off the airwaves at Citadel, he said, "This is the music business. This is not the music blighness. We not here to get no bligh. We spend a lot of money for a quality production, and a lot of work goes into that production of our music."

He added, "I can't go to TTEC and pay my bill with exposure and bligh. They not gonna take that."

In a telephone interview last evening, Lee Sing, now the mayor of Port of Spain, said the problem for them was one of who was authorised to collect royalties on behalf of local artistes.

"I am not prepared to trouble myself with every new organisation that pops up in the society and demands five per cent of my revenue for artistes' airplay.

"Let me say further that this matter that the Trinidad and Tobago Publishers and Broadcasters Association has addressed in detail and the presence of Awesome is another attempt by this group of people to bully the radio stations into recognising and paying royalties."

He added, "It also stands to reason that you do not pay if you do not play the music. I have no problems with Awesome. I have requested from Awesome, time and time again, to send me a list of their artistes to avoid us feeling the wrath of their marauding troops."