Rich Fiscus
18 Feb 2008 0:58
Much like songwriter and Congressman Sonny Bono did in the U.S. several years ago, EU Commissioner Charlie McCreevy is championing an extension to copyright terms. Not surprisingly his stated goal is much the same as Bono's was - to protect artists from the world the rest of us live in where you have to plan for your own retirement.
Mcreevy says "If nothing is done, thousands of European performers who recorded in the late 1950s and 1960s will lose all of their airplay royalties over the next ten years." This is similar to statements from a variety of recording industry insiders when the UK decided not to make such a change to their copyright terms last year.
The thing is, if the reward is actually intended to pay artists the 95 year copyright term doesn't seem to make much sense. Let's assume you write a song when you're 10 years old. In order for a 95 year term to make a difference to you it would require that you live to be 105. Additionally, if that one song (or album) and its royalties are your only source of income you have a lot bigger problems than copyright terms.
On the other hand, if you're a record label that continues to own works long after the artists are gone you're guaranteed to make money on songs for decades.