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On-line music: shorter (c) term would help
A New York Times Article by Amy Harmon discusses the rights-clearance difficulties being encountered by the on-line music services such as MusicNet, Pressplay, and Listen.com. If the term of U.S. copyright in published works had remained at "only" 56 years, some of these rights-clearance problems would have evaporated by now for works of the 1920s, 1930s, and much of the 1940s with the rest of the 40s and the 50s soon to follow. Because sound recordings were not covered by federal copyright before 1972, but rather by state anti-bootlegging statutes (at least in some states), there might still be difficulties involving the recordings themselves (as distinguished from the music on the recordings). But relatively timely copyright expiration, if we still enjoyed it, would now be cutting through at least some of the rights-clearance web that the on-line music services are tangled in. Doc, good luck to you on your mission to the land of the Movie Barons.
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