ECCO & Inland Revenue Department Sign Historic MOU to Strengthen Compliance and Protect Music Rights in Saint Lucia

The answer is simple: as soon as your final master recording is ready and before the song goes public. Not after the release. Not once it starts getting plays. The moment that master is done.

Here's why this matters.

1. When a song goes out into the world, it starts generating royalties immediately. If your song isn't registered with ECCO at that point, there's no way for us to identify you as the rights holder and make sure that money gets to you. Registering before release means you're covered from day one.
2. ECCO has reciprocal agreements with collecting societies around the world. When your song is registered here before it's released, that information can flow through to our international partners. If your track picks up plays in the UK, Canada, or anywhere else, the system already knows who you are. Without that registration in place, international royalties can go uncollected or be misattributed.
3. The most protected artists and songwriters treat registration as part of the release process: right after the master is finalised, before anything else happens. Make it part of your checklist: master done, register with ECCO, then release.

If you have songs that are already out and not yet registered, please register them now. It's not too late for those, but going forward, make registration your first step after mastering.

For any questions about the registration process, reach out to us directly. We're here to help.

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