Copyright in sound recordings is to be extended following a ruling by the European Commission. Copyright broadly applies to literary, artistic, dramatic and musical works.

When it comes to music there can be several copyrights in any one piece of music – such as the lyrics, the music, the score, the performance and the recording. These rights can last differing lengths of time – and may belong to different people. At present copyright in the sound recording of a song lasts for 50 years from the end of the year in which the recording was produced or released. When the new extension comes in to force in 2014 this will rise to 70 years.

The move has not been without controversy.  Those who support it  – most notably singer Cliff Richard – argue that it is only right that creators should still benefit from their works and be able to control how the works are used when those creators are ageing. As Richard does not write most of his songs he earns nothing from the copyright in the music or lyrics. His royalties come from the copyright in the sound recordings, and as some of his recordings are approaching the end of their 50 year term he faced a drop in income.

On the other hand some feel that 50 years is adequate to gain recompense from a work and support the view of Andrew Gower who was commissioned by the UK government to produce an independent report on intellectual property. Published in 2006 his view was that extending copyright would not be a good thing in either cultural or economic terms.

Some people fear that the extension will only help big-name artists rather than the large numbers of musicians on smaller incomes. They also argue that older works of significant cultural value could be kept out of the public domain.

The arguments are likely to continue for some time.

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/copyright/term-protection/term-protection_en.htm