Support ‘Fair Play for Musicians Campaign’

In December, the UK Government announced a change of heart that they accepted that copyright term should be extended.

British Government culture secretary Andy Burnham said in his speech to the Creators' Conference that they have now accepted that the term should be extended in principle and recommended that copyright terms for sound recordings should be extended to 70 years, from the current 50 years, after the release of the recording.

However, this does not fully address the inequity between performers and other creators. Performers get a much shorter copyright term than other creators – composers, authors, lyricists, graphic artists and photographers.

PPL (Phonographic Performance Ltd) and others will continue to talk to the Government about extending copyright term to 95 years for performers and producers (the same as the USA and on a par with other creators who get life plus seventy years).

PPL now shifts its focus to Europe where the draft Copyright Term Directive is being debated. They’ve already been talking to some MEP’s (Members of the European Parliament), asking for their support.

If you would like to help further in the Fair Play for Musicians campaign, then you could write to your MEP, urging him/her to vote for the Copyright Term Directive.

To find your MEP go to http://www.europarl.org.uk/uk_meps/MembersMain.htm