UK Rejects Extending Music Copyright

timrichardson writes "The British Government has rejected extending copyright for sound recordings. This is an important development in the face of trends to extend copyright duration, although it leaves British copyright protection for music recordings at a shorter duration than for written works. The decision came despite fierce lobbying from the large British music industry. The music industry will now lobby directly to the European Commission, but without the support of the national government, its position is significantly weakened. British copyright for music recordings therefore remains at 50 years after the date of release of a recording, in contrast to 95 years in the US and 70 years in Australia."

Comments

Re:*heh*

[Whiney Mac Fanboy]

Cliff Richard will start losing royalties two years before that.

Cliff Richards is still alive? I've always assumed he was either a hologram or part of a "weekend at Bernie's" type situation.

I'm all for extending copyright

[rolfwind]

I think it should be extended so much so, that eventually the descendents of the Grimm brothers can sue Disney into oblivion for infringing on their works.

Re:I'm all for extending copyright

[FiniteElementalist]

The only things scarier than zombies are litigious zombies.

Re:50 years?

[MosesJones]

the artist is probably richer than his wildest dreams

Keith Richards has some pretty wild dreams....

Re:Excellent, govnt. got it right for once

[sa1lnr]

I used to work for what was Pink Floyds P.A. hire company (http://www.britanniarow.com/)

In the late eighties when they reformed and started touring again there was a running joke amongst the road crew.

Q) Why have Pink Floyd started touring again?

A) Because Nick Mason has a wife and 102 Ferrari's to support. ;)

Re:*heh*

[gnasher719]

'' I sure wish that I could get to keep collecting money for 50 years for work that I'm doing today. ''

Easy. Build a house. Rent it out.

No campaign donations? No bribes?

[Random BedHead Ed]

Sorry, I'm originally from the United States and am therefore confused by this article. It looks a bit like the government in the UK has opted for a well-reasoned, balanced public policy rather than simply doing what a couple large industry cartels were asking them to. How exactly did this happen? Were any campaign donations (or, failing that, bribes) made to members of Parliament by the recording and film industries? I'm trying to figure out what went wrong but TFA doesn't give any details.

ah Cliff...

[joe 155]

Cliff Richards, the man who made a hit song out of singing the lords prayer to the tune of Auld lang syne... Granted I think that the money went to charity, but he couldn't claim he didn't make money out of it indirectly, as well as it raising his profile again and allowing him to win awards. Do they not know what seemingly (or actually) eternal copyright would mean...

Jesus: ...So, I see you own a copy of the Bible
Cliff: Yes my Lord, I read it all the time. It's the best book in the world.
Jesus: Ah, but the thing is... Me and my dad wrote that... and you never paid us... I heard the other day that that's theft. Hell, if it was just me, I might let it slide, but it was in the commandments and all. Can't have one rule for you and another for those who stole a physical copy of books from shops... time to burn.

is this a good day to play the lottery?

[v1]

The top two stories on slashdot are tagged "sanityatlast" and "suddenoutbreakofcommonsense". Is there a comet or something I've missed?

Re:Change of government

[SuurMyy]

Until, of course, you get the next PM that wants to distance herself from the now new PM... ;)

Re:*heh*

[MyGirlFriendsBroken]

If you find a job where i can avoid/have all the above, please tell me, because i'd love to take it.

If you're looking for a job without sarcasm then please do not work with me

Re:*heh*

[Bastard of Subhumani]

How is that different from me having to work for years before I can rise up through the ranks in my company, or leave and start my own company?

Apologies if you don't, but most people get what's called a salary during that period.

Re:*heh*

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course, if like 99.9% of people, you would rather have a safe and steady job with regular salary paid, and not put up with rejection, sarcasm, derision, and general apathy for those years, with no pension, no career structure, and absolutely no certainty of ever making more than minimum wage, then that's fine, but in that case, it's probably only fair not to whine about the 1% (or less) of musicians who were prepared to take all those risks, and saw it pay off for them. It's like whineing about lottery winners, when you weren't prepared to risk your dollar on buying one.

Huh?

I think 99% of those 1%, or at least the male portion thereof, gave zero thought to the idea of taking a calculated risk. They did it to get laid.

Re:*heh*

[msuarezalvarez]

Terrabytes... I wonder what they use in Mars.

Re:*heh*

[clem]

If you're looking for a job without sarcasm then pleeeeease work with meeeee. Cause that'd be something I'd reeeeally like. Fixed that for you.