UK copyright term for sound recordings expands to 70 years

Copyright term for sound recordings and performer’s rights in sound recordings increased from 50 to 70 years in the United Kingdom last Friday. It means that the first or second generation of rock musicians are protected until at least 2033.

The move was ratified by the European Union in September 2011 to come into effect on November 1.

It means that performers and investors in new talent will earn more money for a longer period of time, and usually at a time when little or no income comes in for them. For many, this money will cover them for the rest of their lives, especially when much of their music is available online.

According to U2 manager Paul McGuinness, the extension “recognises the role performers play in bringing a song to life and rightly narrows the gap between the protection offered to them and songwriters.”

The law is called Cliff’s Law, after Sir Cliff Richard who earnestly campaigned for the extension. Paul McCartney was another active supporter of the extension, which means that The Beatles’ first single Love Me Do – released in October 1962 – will not go into public domain.

The Who singer Roger Daltrey – another campaigner for term extensions – told  BBC News in 2007 that thousands of artists had “no pensions and rely on royalties,” and “they are not asking for a handout, just a fair reward for their creative endeavours.”

The additional twenty years will also see extra benefits for English musicians. These include:

* Record companies have to set up a new “session” fund into which they have to pay 20% of the revenue earned during the extra 20 years. This money will go to the session musicians who played on the tracks.

* A “clean slate” provision, whereby a producer may not make deductions from payments to performers (such as advances of royalties) from publication of a recording; and;

* A “use it or lose it” clause  –  will now have to be included in all record companies. It allows performers and musicians to claim back their performance rights in sound recordings if the record company does not commercially market the track during this extended period.  The artist can then sell it through another label or through the Internet.

The new legislation was first proposed by the European Commission in 2008. The music industry initially wanted the copyright extended by 99 years.