Copyright term on recorded songs

Reported by the BBC today is the news that the copyright term for recorded music is to remain at 50 years, and not be extended to the proposed 95 years. So recordings from the birth of rock ‘n’ roll are already slipping out of copyright with the first high profile living victim to be Sir Cliff Richard.

People come up with all sorts of logical reasons as to why the term should not be extended (or even be shortened) like this slightly unconvincing argument at Shekhar Kapur’s thought-provoking blog . But in this extra background in the Guardian a month or so ago there is an interesting illustration of the difference between Paul and Ringo in a world where copyright term on Beatles recordings has expired. The Guardian article also talks about the positions taken by the BPI and by British Library, whose interests don’t actually sound mutually exclusive despite the pitching of it as an argument between the two of them.

The Times makes the important point that any European Law binds states to a 50 year term and therefore any change would take the UK out of step with the rest of the European Union.

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