If you had any question as to whether the copyright extension was a travesty, here's a gem I came across while looking for some music to stick in a podcast:
Sound Recording Rule of Thumb: There are NO sound recordings in the Public Domain in the USA.Records, cassettes, CD's, and other music recordings come under a general category called Sound Recordings or Phonorecords. The publication of Sheet Music placed a song or musical work under copyright protection. Sound recordings, however, were protected by a hodge-podge tangle of state laws, but were not covered under Federal copyright law. It was even determined that there was no federal criteria to actually "publish" a sound recording. This was fixed with the 1972 US copyright act which officially "published" all sound recordings in existence on February 15, 1972, and 75 years of copyright protection was enacted for essentially every sound recording created in 1972 or earlier. (1972 + 75 years = 2047). The Sony Bono Act of 1998 extended all copyright protection an additional 20 years. Therefore, the earliest that copyright protection will expire for any sounding recording in the USA is 2067 (2047 + 20 years = 2067).
Good morning.
Although I agree with you on the ridiculousness of the SBA, I think the original 1972 decision was worse. The first recordings from 1877 would have had a copyright life of 170 years. The SBA merely extended it to 190.
There are plenty of sound recordings in the public domain at Librivox.org . Congress may be in the business of serving the greedy, but they can't stop people from being generous.
I imagine you probably already arrived at this conclusion, but:
http://www.podsafeaudio.com/
Don't you realize that without copyright protection for sound recordings, indelible artistic triumphs like "Tie a Yellow Ribbon" might never have been recorded?
Listen to Amen Brother for a bit more history on the subject of copyright and how it effects the music biz.
Well that's a very safe thing to say given that Sonny already is dead. Color me skeptical.
The most noteworthy thing about this ridiculous law is that the the record company sales are cratering anyway.
brooksfoe wrote: Don't you realize that without copyright protection for sound recordings, indelible artistic triumphs like "Tie a Yellow Ribbon" might never have been recorded?
Yeah, and with the increasingly draconian version of copyright law that we have now, the hundred-odd artists who did covers of that song might have been sued into the deep earth by Sony Music or Disney.
Welcome to my world. How the hell does an IP lawyer justify that?
Don't blame Sonny TOO much.* He was only obeying the command of the Almighty Eisner, protecting Mickey Mouse, etc. from becoming public domain. In the UK, recording copyrights expire after 50 years, for all music released in the UK, whether it was recorded there or not. Jazz aficionados (all seven of us), are enjoying high-quality, budget CDs of Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Stan Getz, etc., etc. In theory, British and European record companies could be releasing early Elvis, Chuck Berry, Little Richard sides as well, but I don't know if they have the nerve.
*After all, if you're feeling stressed, you can always meditate at the Sonny Bono memorial triangle on New Hampshire, just SW of DuPont Circle. And, no, Cher does not pay for it.
Wasn't dead
the Sonny Bono memorial triangle
This is perhaps the most irritating side effect of Americans' penchant for electing show business celebrities to positions of political power. I feel it's only a matter of time before I'll be crossing the Britney Spears Memorial Bridge to get to Eminem International Airport.
"Jesus" Megan is right. weren't is an example of a little thing called the "subjunctive." You may have not learned about it in middle or high school, while you were having diversity awareness training, or perhaps had recess cut to reduce "negative self-esteem incidences."
:-p
Alan: "In the UK, recording copyrights expire after 50 years, for all music released in the UK, whether it was recorded there or not. Jazz aficionados (all seven of us), are enjoying high-quality, budget CDs..."
I wonder if I can order cheap CDs from Amazon.UK? Or would that be like ordering hash online from a cafe in Amsterdam....
Dear Bristlecone,
It's a lot easier than that. Labels like Proper and JSP (English), Blue Moon (Spanish), and Classic (French) are available in U.S. stores and through U.S. Amazon. But if you haven't discovered this already, you're probably not really into jazz.
I have a hard time considering the current copyright term "limited" (per the Constitution) given that nothing created within my life span will come out of copyright until after I die (barring advances in human longevity that would no doubt be countered by increases in the copyright term).
EI