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Poster:
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rgs_uk |
Date:
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September 30, 2005 03:48:57pm |
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Forum:
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78rpm
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Subject:
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Re: how to verify that these rpm's are not copyrighted? |
> most of that is well beyond the lifetime of the
> writer(s) or 50 year limit
What is the 50 year limit that you mention?
I looked into the copyright situation in the UK. Here the music recording is usually protected for 50 years but the music composition is protected until 70 years after the death of the composer.
I was interested in using one of the 78 rpms that is on here (dating from the early 1900's) on the soundtrack of a video. But I found that the composer lived to a ripe old age and didn't die until the 1980's.
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Poster:
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droncit |
Date:
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October 01, 2005 12:25:58am |
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Forum:
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78rpm
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Subject:
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Re: how to verify that these rpm's are not copyrighted? |
That was a quote from someone else, so I don't know the specifics on it. You're right - with a particularly long-lived composer, you're going to get a very long copyright duration. I think his experience has been with Edison materials, wherein Edison had all the rights for the recordings (including composition, etc.), and his heirs gave them to the public, so there's not an issue, but it does get extremely complex.
However, I'd be curious to know if something like CBS even has any of their old cylinders, from the days when it was Columbia Phonograph. My guess is that they don't have copies, and if they don't have them, I doubt that they would care what happens to them. Of course I could be wrong - They do have an extensive library. Has anyone ever written to them to ask about these issues? That one link above implied that this stuff was locked away in vaults. I very much doubt that, as these early recordings were just not treated as income streams that would last; Books have been written in which they try to document the early Edison recordings, and there are still gaps. My guess is that Columbia and lesser labels also have huge gaps where they don't even know what was recorded.
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