So, could Scottish MP Pete Wishart be the British music industry's Sonny Bono? Well, probably not, but the former Runrig keyboardist and now SNP member of parliament for Perth and North Perthshire has announced that he will today speak in favour of an extension of the recorded copyright in the UK when the House Of Commons gets to debate the much previously reported Gowers review on intellectual property laws which, as also previously reported, concludes that the case for extending said copyright from its current fifty years isn't strong.
Confirming his support for extending the copyright term, Wishart told CMU yesterday: "The unprecedented petition from over 5000 UK musicians and artists, expressing their concern at the Gowers Review, demonstrates what an important and crucial report this is. Musicians and creators feel let down by this report and it has left them feeling undervalued, unsupported and misunderstood. The Gowers Review was a rare opportunity to look at whether our Intellectual Property laws currently strike the right balance between rewarding creativity and giving business the opportunity to develop the knowledge economy. It is my view that Gowers fell short of this key objective and it could in fact seriously compromise the competitiveness of the UK creative sector".
He continued: "The failure to understand the importance to artists of copyright protection is the biggest singular failure in this review. Gowers also shunned the opportunity to right the historic wrong that sees UK artists and musicians discriminated against on the extension of term. The Government must now reconsider its whole approach to the Gowers process and consult further on this report's recommendations. The Gowers Review has infuriated UK artists and creators and it is now time to put a brake on this and reconsider our whole approach".
As previously reported, the British (and European) music industry has been lobbying to increase the term of recorded copyright in the UK (and Europe) from the current 50 years up to 95 years, a move which would bring European copyrights in line with US copyrights where copyright recordings have been protected for 95 years ever since their 1998 Copyright Extension Act, initiated by singer and then congressman Sonny Bono.