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Music Copyright In EU Extended To 70 Years

Posted by kdawson on from the how-about-residuals-for-my-lines-of-code dept.

rastos1 writes "The European Parliament extended the copyright in the EU for the performers of musical works from 50 to 70 years. The legislation will be reviewed in 3 years. The European Commission will consider extending the scope to audiovisual works too." So performers will collect for 20 more years from the date of performance; composers' rights already extend to 70 years beyond their deaths. Update: 4/26 at 12:15 GMT by SS: Reader rimberg points out that while the copyright extension was passed in the European Parliament, it is now being held up in the Council of Ministers awaiting further debate on the issue.

4 of 395 comments (clear)

  1. Needs approval of every single member state by Bredero · · Score: 5, Interesting

    TFA doesn't clearly state that for this to come into effect it needs to be approved by every single EU member state. It is rumoured that Belgium, Slovenia, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Portugal, Austria, Slovakia and Romania are opposed to this.

  2. Re:Fuck. by DigitAl56K · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Indeed. Many of us will be dead before the works our parents enjoyed before our conception enter the public domain.

    It seems the media industry has much stronger political influence than the people. Something has gone very, very wrong with copyright law. The value society now takes from offering artists the protection of copyright is now extraordinarily questionable.

    If these industry groups were so concerned with the future of their artists they shouldn't be calling for 70-year long copyright terms, they should be offering artists a pension.

  3. 5 years by sanosuke001 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Copyright and Patents should be MAX of 5 years. They are supposed to give the author a limited monopoly in order to facilitate future works/inventions. It is to the point of absurdity and, frankly, is disgusting.

    --
    -SaNo
  4. Potatoes and patents by I+cant+believe+its+n · · Score: 5, Interesting

    * Why is it that an engineer or scientist will only be granted a 20 year protection of his or her idea after spending piles of money and maybe 5 to 10 years working on an idea, while a guy with a guitar gets a monopoly for life?

    * If I buy an original potatoe at a store and I reproduce it and share copies with my friends, why isn't that called theft? Making that initial potatoe available can potentially cost the store thousands in lost potatoe sales.

    (... sampled from the swedish debate)

    --
    She made the willows dance