Two years after the European parliament gave a first reading to Irish MEP Brian Cowley's bill to extend the copyright in sound recordings from 50 to 70 years, the EU council of ministers has changed the law, despite protests from Belgium and Sweden, among others.
By 2014, governments around the EU will be expected to amend their copyright laws to put the modifed directive 2006/116/EC into effect, along with provisions designed to improve the lot of musicians that include a fund for session musicians who signed away their rights when a recording was made to be paid for by record labels. Performers will also be allowed to renegotiate contracts with record labels after 50 years or to ask for rights to be returned to them if the recording is not available.
Which copyright are you after?
Under current EU laws recorded musical performances are protected for a maximum of 50 years, during which period the performers can control the distribution of their work and may receive an income. The composer also gets copyright in the work, and the record company usually has a "recording right" that stops anyone else making a recording of the performance. The sound recording copyright has been extended to 70 years. The original proposal was to make it 95 years to harmonise with the situation in the US, making the new deal a "compromise".
Will it do any good?
Many well-known musicians and the heavyweight lobbyists for the new law claim it will benefit musicians, the industry and the wider economy by allowing them to earn money from their work, providing session musicians and others with a pension in their old age. However, the potential economic impact is far from certain, and in 2009 the European commission ignored two studies carried out by the University of Amsterdam's Institute for Information Law that argued against extension, prompting Professor Bernt Hugenholtz to accuse it of "wilfully ignoring scientific analysis and evidence" in its policy-making.
What happens next?
Nobody really knows what will happen. The problem with changing laws in response to lobbying from famous musicians instead of evaluating the evidence is that the outcome is completely uncertain. What we can be sure of is that many recordings of no real economic value but potential historic significance will be locked away for another 20 years and those who might have been inspired to make it available non-commercially will be deterred; those who might have used it to inspire their own creative expression will find themselves blocked, and the public domain will be further diminished.
But Cliff will be happy, so that's probably OK.