Well, Alan McGee may think the music industry is entirely unjustified in asking for an extension in the recorded music copyright (as we reported on Friday), but The Sun is on the side of those labels and artists lobbying for copyrights to be increased from 50 to 95 years, and to bring it inline with the US. As much reported, the government's recent review into intellectual property laws, undertaken by Andrew Gowers and published last week, recommends against such an increase.
Responding to that report, The Sun said on Friday: "McCartney & Co recorded The Beatles' first album Please Please Me in 1963. So it will become public property in 2013. Paul will be a sprightly 70. Why should we care? He's rich enough (well, until his divorce comes through anyway). One reason is that for every Macca and every Bowie, there are hundreds more faded stars scratching a living from their guitars and keyboards in pubs and selling the odd CD out of a suitcase. It is unfair that after 50 years other people can exploit what they have created. Another reason is that British laws are out of harmony with America, where the 95-year protection exists. That means our music companies are at a disadvantage to the US. They can only earn from their back catalogues for 50 years. And since our stuff is usually so much better, surely we should compete on a level stage? The other important point is that music recording copyright is shorter than in other fields of endeavour - such as the written word and photos".