A whole party of music industry acronyms (the collective noun for acronyms being 'party') yesterday expressed their formal support for those previously reported proposals by EU Internal Market Commissioner, Charlie McCreevy, to increase the European copyright on sound recordings to 95 years, bringing it in line with the US. In the party were FIM, GERA, GIART, ICMP, IFPI, IMPA and IMPALA - a gold star to anyone who can identify the full names of each of them.
They said in a statement: "Performers and producers are provided with 50 years' protection on music recordings in the European Union, compared to 95 years provided in the United States. Improving the 50-year term of protection is a matter of fairness for the tens of thousands of talented performers who contribute to Europe's exciting, diverse musical culture. An increasing number of performers are losing this revenue stream later in life at a time when they most need it, as their early works fall into the public domain. Moreover, this is happening at a time when the internet provides the opportunity to revive the career of older artists and find new audiences for early recordings".
As previously reported, the EC Commissioner spoke in favour of the 95 year term last week. Some are now speculating on whether his comments will force the UK government who, on the back of the recent Gowers Report on IP laws, decided against increasing the sound recording copyright term, to alter their policy on the matter.