Only recently one of Guyana’s upcoming and promising artistes was denied a visa by the United States Embassy after she was invited to an event that would have seen her being awarded in honour of her work in the music industry.Nevertheless, the young songstress,Cheap NFL Jerseys, Tennicia De Freitas, was presented with her award after the group that honoured her,Wholesale Authentic NHL Jerseys, traveled to Guyana.In an interview with this newspaper, De Freitas said that she was disappointed but hopefully she will get the opportunity to travel some other time. Her music has already hit the world. For last week alone De Freitas’s winning rendition in the Junior Calypso competition ‘Mama I don’t want to be born’ got some 15,296 views on YouTube.However, while the young De Freitas and other local artistes seem to have a seemingly fair amount of success, locally, her Manager Burchmore Simon says much more is to be desired from the music industry.In an interview with this newspaper, Simon said that like Tennicia he has worked with many other local artistes but they are all somewhat limited. He explained that there are few local artistes who actually make a living from the music industry.However, there are others who are in the industry but have full time jobs in order to ‘keep food on the table’.“Guyana has the ability to pay singers and the music industry can put food on the table…however the missing link is the Copyright Legislation. What we have to understand is that unless the enabling environment is there for people to earn we can’t reap the success we ought to because we are in competition with the world at large.”He added that the music industry has the ability to turn into a multi billion dollar industry but there is the missing link.Simon further added that if the industry becomes more encouraging then it will also serve to address many of the social issues in our society.“If I can go into Sophia and find a dozen young people who can really sing,Wholesale Jerseys Store, give them a sizable advance and have them do recordings,China Jersyes Cheap, many other issues that affect our society will soon enough fade away.”He lamented the fact that many young people have talent but they are well aware of the fact that singing in Guyana cannot pay so they will ultimately find another means of income by whatever way possible.In 1999,NFL Jerseys China Wholesale, some 11 years ago, President Bharrat Jagdeo had said that a Copyright Law was important to Guyana’s development. The President at the time further stated his intention to have this in place by the following year.To date, Guyana is still awaiting that promise much to the public dissatisfaction.In 2008 when CARIFESTA was being hosted in Guyana, the call was once again reiterated by the public.Copyright infringement is rampant in Guyana and over the years, artistes and other concerned parties have raised their concerns about the lack of such legislation and its effects on their livelihood.The legislation would have replaced the existing Act,Authentic NBA Jerseys Cheap, which is substantially the 1956 Copyright Act of the United Kingdom insofar as it forms part of the Laws of Guyana. The UK has since updated its Copyright Act and several CARICOM states such as Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Lucia and Belize have enacted copyright legislation.Guyana is a signatory to the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works and is also a member of the World Intellec-tual Property Organisation (WIPO).