Posted on 04/23/2014 5:52:00 AM PDT by a fool in paradise
...The plaintiffs include Vivendi SA's Capitol Records Inc and UMG Recordings Inc, Sony Corp's Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group Corp and ABKCO Music & Records Inc...
...Federal copyright law does not apply to pre-1972 recordings, but the plaintiffs say New York state law provides copyright protection for such recordings...
..."If we are required to obtain licenses for pre-1972 sound recordings to avoid liability and are unable to secure such licenses, then we may have to remove pre-1972 sound recordings from our service, which could harm our ability to attract and retain users," the company said in a regulatory filing in February...
(Excerpt) Read more at in.reuters.com ...
Ugh... We will be paying for Pandora before we know it.
Hasn’t music that is older than 42 years served the copyright holders long enough?
It seems to me that after a generation has passed, the idea that playing that generation’s music preserves it. Also, how have radio stations been able to legally play music for free over the air waves for the past 90 or so years?
As the article states, sometimes due to deaths and legal issues, certain older copyrights are impossible to get licenses for. So the music, technically, cannot be played for any price.
Sort of like Disney getting extended copyrights on their old stuff.
Every 20 years or so, they pull out a few old items in remastered format, and sell them during a short window of time.
The Disney stuff extends some 70 years (or more).
==
If the old music recordings gain prominence again, look for Cher and Babs to do more Farewell tours.
They do pay royalties for the songs they play.
“Also, how have radio stations been able to legally play music for free over the air waves for the past 90 or so years?”
They haven’t, they have to pay royalties for all the copyrighted songs they play.
I’ve seen entire albums posted on YouTube as “fair use.” I’d hate to be a professional musician these days.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
So move out of New York State. Like everyone else.
Problem solved.
Geez. There are no radio stations in our market that play pre-1972’s music. Pandora is our only option if we want to hear a variety of music styles. Jazz? Nada. Blues? Nada. Having been born in the 50’s, I’d like to be able to listen to music of my childhood - the 60’s decade. Actually, I like being able to listen to different genres from the 40’s to current. Would artists and labels prefer to go unheard and unbought because they’ve been relegated to irrelevancy in broadcast radio?
Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman of Turtles and Zappa & The Mothers fame were suing Sirius/XM to get royalty $ from their pre 1972 work.
And yes entire albums (Beatles etc) have been posted on youtube, but in some cases they have been taken down.
As a longtime college radio DJ, I have interviewed smaller-scale artists, etc. who have said the occasional song they do (like from a live performance) put on youtube is OK as it helps promote them. A whole album or concert is another matter. On my radio show I’m restricted to playing only 3 songs or so by a certain artist/from that artist’s album. Of course if I have a local performer in the studio and he does 6 or 7 songs live,
and we get his permission for the streaming or even a podcast, that’s fine(we may label it as “single” or “live”)...
Cambridge/Boston area has WJIB 740 “The Memories Station”, basically a one man operation. They don’t stream. More that a bit of their music is pre 1972.
College stations like the one I’m on nr Boston do feature blues, jazz etc (sorry to hear that you don’t have that option) and we’ll have pre-72 stuff (Muddy Waters, Ray Charles etc)
If you have a smartphone or even your PC try http://www.TuneIn.com which will give you just about every station on the air as well as some streamers.
Warner Bros. claims they own the copyright on “Happy Birthday To You” for 100 years (meaning their claim will expire in the 2030s if the laws are not revised once again to extend ownership).
Of course it is clear that “Good Morning To You” (which Happy Birthday’s melody is taken from) is much older than 100 years.
And there are persons who are still alive who lost ownership of their songs decades ago (or were never compensated even when money was owed by thieving labels like Atlantic). If “anyone” could release the songs, the artists could release their own “signature” edition and still make some bank on their work.
100 year copyrights only serve the interests of the few corporations that own the bulk of the material.
If the big music plaintiffs in this case will begin paying royalties to the inventors back through history of all the wonderful technology & gadgets which make their music empire spossible, then I might listen to their complaints.
Patents expire after 20 years now. Why do the “artistes” intellectual property rights not do the same?
Originally the Supreme Court decided that they didn't (just as someone making a recording of a song didn't have to pay the publisher of the sheet music).
But the musicians unions were losing out on radio gigs when stations played records. Stations still pay into a fund to give live musicians paying gigs.
Joe Strummer is seen doing this in a documentary about him (possibly in NYC) trying to promote his career after the Clash had folded. He couldn't get on the radio, even if he offered to drop by on air.
He does actually DJ (with the patter and details that today's "announcers" or "hosts" don't have). He's in the rock and roll hall of fame (and surprising that he's still in radio) in part because he was booking shows going back to the 1950s.
http://ksevradio.com/programs/paul-berlin
"Hear the music of the 40′s, 50′s and 60′s along with the first hand accounts of the artists, the shows and the people of Houston who love it. Both then and now.
Have a request for Paul Berlin? Scroll down and type the name of the song and the artist in the “reply” box below. Great news! Paul Berlin is back!
After successful surgery and time to recuperate, Paul has returned to the KSEV microphone. Listen to Paul’s statement on the audio player below. We appreciate the many good wishes for Paul. And, thanks for listening to the pre-recorded Paul Berlin shows from the past these last few weekends.
Listen to Paul Berlin right now! Click on the audio player below to hear Paul’s most recent radio shows..."
I think there is something missing from this. Federal copyright is eternal, and certainly covers recordings going back to the 20s. Perhaps there is a different law concerning (re)transmission that they are talking about.
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