European Commission Extends Sound Recording Copyright

"Copyright gets 'Use It Or Lose It' clause"
The Register (July 16, 2008)

"The European Commission today approved an extension to the life of sound recording copyright, from 50 to 90 years - but with a twist.

"The EC has insisted on a "use it or lose it" clause, which allows the recordings to revert to the performer if the producer or record company has no desire to market the recording. It's designed to prevent recordings gathering cobwebs in record company vaults, and the new clause can be invoked a year after the 50-year term expires.

" 'The clause will empower performers to market their early songs themselves,' the Commission wrote in a statement.

"The EC argued that term extension was justified on the basis that poorly-paid performers, rather than large record companies, were morally justified. Because most CDs fail to recoup, performers who are paid by a percentage of sales rarely see a dime over their session rate. However, when a sound recording is broadcast, the performers get 50 per cent of the resulting royalty. (For their part, the songwriters and composers earn money from another copyright, which remains unchanged at life plus 70 years.)..."

The way it's presented here, this extension seems to make sense. I think it's reasonable for whoever created a work (sound recording, written article, photograph, whatever) should get compensated for use of that work.

Obviously, there's going to be quite a bit rewriting of intellectual property rights law, as the legal system adjusts to Information Age technologies.

What interested me the most in this decision was that it was intended to level the playing field: giving non-megastar performers a chance to profit from their work. That leveling seems to be a characteristic of these first years of the Information Age. These days, publishing and performance is much more in the hands of people who don't have power or position.

I like it.

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