A quick notice here for those who may be able to trot along to this event.
http://www.boingboing.net/2006/10/27/music_copyright_exte.htmlThe UK Open Rights Group is throwing an all-evening symposium-with-DJs night on November 13th to explore the question of copyright term extensions in the UK. This is the white-hot copyright issue of the day in Britain, since this year marks the year that a ton of still-popular music (early Elvis recordings, for one) will enter the British public domain. The British record companies are urging the UK government to add another 45 years to all the old music copyrights, even though practically every 50-year-old recording is out of print, languishing in obscurity because its "owners" don't care enough about it to bring it back.
This question has been hanging in the air for the last couple of years, with the music industry lobbying government for an extension on the grounds that the royalties they earn from old recordings are essential to bringing new acts to the stage and supporting ageing musicians. They believe that copyright term on sound recordings should be the same length as the copyright in the composition, which currently stands at life plus 70 years.
On the other hand, copyright reformers argue that term should remain the same in order to protect the public domain and to free the huge number of old recordings which are no longer commercially viable and therefore not being released by the record labels.
I think while its good to generate publicity for this abuse of the public they should be highlighting the current rip off practices and near-illegal rights stealing exercise that comes with each recording contract these days, artists are kept at the bottom of the food chain and yet provide the only incentive for anyone to make a purchase of the end product, what a strange world we live in...
