countrycake wrote:Douggie, many thanks for supplementing my fairly rudimentary knowledge of copyright as it affects recordings, a knowledge gained as a UK tax inspector dealing with the affairs of Chrysalis Records, prior to its acquisition by EMI, and Universal Music, prior to its acquisition of PolyGram.
I have read the revised EU legislation that came into effect on 1 November 2013. Perhaps, you could clarify a point for me. The legislation talks of the 'year' of first release rather than the 'date' of first release. For example, take a record first issued on 1 April 1963. Did that fall out of copyright on 2 April 2013 under the 50-year rule or remain in copyright under the 70-year rule because it was still in copyright at 1 November 2013, because even under the 50-year rule it wouldn't have entered the public domain until 1 January 2014, ie 50 years after the end of 1963?
For the avoidance of doubt, I was not exhorting anyone to buy the various MP3 albums that I have been logging.
I was merely listing them as a matter of record in the same way that members note any other Dusty-related material.
Virtually all the Springfields' material is still available on a double-CD issued by Cherry Red/RPM, ie 'On An Island of Dreams'. If anyone is still wanting Springfields' tracks, they should buy that, as all the tracks have been licensed from Universal and all the creators should be properly compensated.
Hi Jim
This is mark two as I have now approached it slightly differently.
What I'll do is name a song and follow it through on what happens to that song. I choose a song that everyone will know and also most of what I am trying to say.
" Love Me Do" is the song it was written by John Lennon & Paul McCartney. Published by Ardmore & Beechwood, Recorded by EMI released on Parlophone Records, Broadcast on Radio & Television.. These are the people who have claim to this song and what the copyright means to each.The song
"Love Me Do" was written by
John Lennon & Paul McCartney who together with their manager Brian Epstein would have had an agreement with
"Ardmore & Beechwood" to publish this song. On signing this agreement or publishing deal they invoked the
"Musical Works" copyright.
The job of the publisher now "Ardmore & Beechwood" would be as:-
Copyright owners have exclusive rights over material in which they own copyright, including:
Reproducing the work: photocopying, copying by hand, filming, recording and scanning;
Publishing or making the work public, in print or electronic format;
Communicating the work, e.g. making it available on the web, emailing or faxing it;
Performing the work in public;
Making an adaptation of the work, such as a translation or an arrangement;
Broadcasting the work, or transmiting to subscribers.
For
"Ardmore & Beechwood" this service depended on the agreement reached it would give them a % of the song. This agreement for them meant they had the exclusive rights to
"Love Me Do" as discribed in the copyright act for a
"Musical Work" which is :- Life of the composer + 70 years.
What this means is they ("Ardmore & Beechwood") have the rights for John Lennon's part (Who died 8th December 1980) plus 70 years= until 2032. John Lennon Copyright lasts perpetually.
Whereas Paul McCartney who is still alive is the date he dies + 70 years ( hypothetically if Paul McCartney were to die this year 2014) "Ardmore & Beechwood" would have the rights until 2084. Paul McCartney Copyright lasts perpetually. If and when "Ardmore & Beechwood" copyright expires it would be up John Lennon & Paul McCartney's relevant estates on what to do with this song. Just a note;- Most of their songs later were published by Dick James Music & Northern Songs. This only the publishing part of the situation.
After once Brian Epstein had a publishing deal he had to get it recorded. It has been believed that he had some trouble placing them with a company don't know if this is true or not. He then saw George Martin who signed them.
When it was recorded a contract would have been signed with the record company in this case
"Parlophone" under the
EMI Banner. On signing this contract they invoked the
"Sound Recording" copyright. Which states They
(EMI) have copyright on in this case
"Love Me Do" for the period of
"70 years after the end of the first year published".
How does this work? Well we know that "Love Me Do" was recorded 4th September 1962 also that it was in the charts for two weeks at number 17 on 15th December 1962. So if we look at the clause it reads "70 years after the end of the first year published". This record was released at the end of 1962. If you invoke the clause plus 70 years means that EMI or whoever owns this song
"Love Me Do" their copyright will expires in the year 2032. This should be as of 2033 as it would be from the year after the release year. That being 1963 + 70 years = 2033 not as I first wrote 2032. I hope you get the basic idea anyway.
This copyright is only for this EMI recording of
"Love Me Do" If it were recorded by an other artist for another label a new set of copyright documents would have to be done with those people. Other people may have done this song, but they would of had to negotiate with the publisher at the time "Ardmore & Beechwood" to record it. It was their job to do this guiding where and when it could be used, and had nothing to do with the first record company EMI who just had the rights to their recording of "Love Me Do". this should have covered the recording side.
WE now have the performance side of things such as Radio, Television, Film and live performance.
Radio/Television Copyright Created before 1 May 1969 No copyright protection. However, the underlying works in the broadcasts - the images, music, sounds, screenplays etc - would have had protection as photographs (artistic works); dramatic works, and sound recordings.
Radio/Television Copyright Created after 1 May 1969 50 years after the end of the year the first broadcast was made. Using
"Love Me Do" again we know it was a hit in 1962 so we presume that it would have been on the radio in 1962.
Therefore it would be 1962 plus 50 years meaning the copyright expires in the year 2012. for this song only. On looking at the act again I think as this also includes Television so I now have that covered.
Now for the film side of things:-
Film Copyright Created before 1 May 1969 Protected as a combination of photographs, dramatic works and sound recordings.
Film Copyright Created after 1 May 1969 Published:- 70 years from the end of the year the film is first published (or made available to the public). Unpublished:- Lasts indefinitely until the film is published and then 70 years from the end of the year the film is first published.
Notes on Duration in Films & Broadcasts:-
Films and broadcasts created before 1 May 1969 are protected as combination of different types of copyright material, with different periods of duration depending on the type of material and who created the work. This means that copyright in the film and broadcasts will expired separately and parts of the film or broadcast may be out of copyright, while other parts remain in copyright.
Likewise, for films and broadcasts created after 1 May 1969, copyright might expire in the film or broadcast but remain in the underlying works.
Live Performance:- There is a copyright for live performance. How this works every country has companies that collect money from various places who use and play music. In Australia it is APRA ( Australasian Performing Right Association) in the US it's BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.) or ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) the UK it is PRS (PRS for Music Limited) these companies protect its members' musical copyrights by monitoring public performances of their music, whether via a broadcast or live performance, and compensating them accordingly. If you see a show,concert or a group at the local hall they all have to pay a fee to play any music. So part of your entry fee should be given to the collection agency of that country to be passed onto the owner or publisher of all the songs. Who in turn passes the agreed amount on to the writers of the song. In our case a group does "Love Me Do" at the village hall. A list of songs played that night should have been taken by the person running the event and submitted of songs together with a small fee for each song to the collection agency. It is normally just a small amount perhaps 5 or 10 cents a song, it is probably it a lot more these days more like $1 or $2 . So if say 60 songs were played during the night. Then 60 x 5 cents = $3.00 or 60 x 10 cents = $6.00. If it's $1 = $60 or $2 = $120. This money is then sorted out and sent to the publishing companies. Who will then send the money onto in our case John Lennon & Paul McCartney less of course his % percentage. You have to consider that "Love Me Do" could be played at lest 1,000 maybe 10,000 times per day throughout the World so just at 5 cents a play 10,000 x 5 = $500 per day from this one song.
When songs are played on Radio, Television or Film or anywhere there is a fee which will probably go to one of these collection agencies.
I hope this makes sense to everybody and helps with understanding something about copyright. It is a very difficult subject with so many variations, but it seems to work most of the time if you play the game. Lots don't...
Cheers Douggie

Dusty
