Re: [ARSCLIST] "Isn't 50 years of copyright enough?" (copyright extension sought for sound recordings in Europe)

[Don Cox <doncox@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 17/08/04, Steven C. Barr wrote:

> 1) Anent the unusual lifespan of more-or-less recent pop
> recordings...I find this to be an oddity, and often wonder who is to
> blame! I believe it was a year or so ago that the top-of-the-charts
> album was a Beatles anthology...and that group hasn't existed for
> about 35 years! This would be akin to Whiteman heading record sales in
> 1960...and in 1960 I think the only way you could hear Whiteman (and
> his contemporaries) was to search out 78's! As well, RCA still pumps
> out Presley and Miller anthologies, which go back even further!

There were jazz reissue LPs in 1960, containing material from the 1920s
and 30s. Billie Holiday for instance, or Eddie Condon, or Bix.

I don't remember pop or dance reissues until the 70s.


> a) If a record company doesn't wish to (re)issue material which they
> feel, rightly or wrongly, has little commercial potential...then
> they forfeit the right to bring suit for infringement against a
> party who does reissue it. Right now, current copyright law gives
> record firms the chance to play "dog in the manger" with a lot
> of their back catalog, telling interested parties "YOU can't legally
> issue this...and WE won't!"

Dog in the manger it is.

Regards
--
Don Cox
doncox@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx