EU Copyright Extension: Our Old Rockstars Are Broke
Just saw this article pop up on the BBC World news: Bands set for longer music rights. A little bit more research turns up this from the Times (London) and this from the Intl. Herald Tribune.
It looks as though the EU, ten years later, may be headed towards legislation similar to the United States’ “Sonny Bono” Copyright Term Extension Act.
The apparent impetus in the EU is that the the back catalogue of (particularly British artists’) recordings from the 50s and 60s will soon enter the public domain after its 50-year copyright expires, which leads to statements like this from Roger Daltry of The Who: “Thousands of musicians have no pensions and rely on royalties to support themselves.”
(Let’s not get started on the average lifestyle/spending habits of pop/rock stars.)
This same line is being used by a commissioner for trade in the EU who has been fielding interviews. Apparently copyright now is supposed to guarantee you income for the rest of your life? Not good, especially from the civil servants.
The end result of new legislation could be harmonization with the extended terms in the U.S. and other jurisdictions: life of the author + 70 years, or 95 years from publication (or 120 years from creation, whichever is less) for corporate-authored works.
It looks like this debate has already played out in the UK, according to Lessig, but luckily they made the right decision. The issue will now be taken up by the EU when the French assume its presidency in the summer. Should be interesting to see if anything comes of this — hopefully not perpetual copyright.
In Addition: Ars Technica has some more editorialized coverage, including discussion of the fact that musicians implicitly agreed to this 50 year coverage back when they went into the studio, and seemed to think that it was worth their while at the time.