Brussels, 17/07/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 16 July 2008, the European Commission adopted a draft directive to increase from 50 to 95 years the copyright term for singer-songwriters and composers (see EUROPE 9602). This will not be retroactive and will therefore only apply to recordings broadcast after the new directive is adopted. 'I am committed to concentrate on all necessary efforts to ensure that performers have a decent income,' commented EU Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy in a press release. Every year, the copyright of some 7000 European artists expires. The new legislation would align the copyright term for performers with that of authors, and the copyright protection available to the EU music industry with that provided to the music industry in the United States and Canada.
At present, session musicians sell their exclusive rights to a record producer. The draft directive suggests that they should be given the right to annual payment for the period of extension of the rights (45 years) from a special fund set up by recording companies and to which the recording companies would have to pay at least 20% of the income from used of the rights granted to them by singer songwriters. Paying out the royalties to singer-songwriters could be done by the copyright bodies paying copyright to authors. A clause has been introduced to enable singer-songwriters to retrieve their rights when a record company no longer wishes to make commercial use of their music.
For musical composition written by several authors (co-authors), the European Commission suggests that there should be a uniform system for calculate how long copyright lasts, namely 70 years after the death of the last surviving co-author, whether that author wrote the music or the lyrics for the music in question. (M.B. transl fl)