[pdb-discuss] Public Domain Elvis record charts at #19

Tue Aug 28 17:05:03 UTC 2007

>From Music Week:

Elvis records public domain first 28 August 2007 - 08:00:00

 The debate over recorded copyright extension has reached the UK singles
chart for the first time, as a public domain Elvis Presley track has this
week charted in the Top 20.

My Baby Left Me, which was recorded by Presley in 1956 and so lost its
protection on January 1 this year, has been re-issued by Memphis Recording
Service in what is the most high-profile exploitation yet of the 50-year
copyright rule. The single charted at number 19 on Sunday (August 26).

Under the rule, any label can issue a recording more than 50 years old
without paying any royalties to the original label, performers or their
estates. It has provoked fierce lobbying within the UK music industry to
increase the term period, including a campaign undertaken by *Music Week*,
although the UK Government last month declared it was backing the findings
of last year's Gowers Review not to back term extension.

The release of My Baby Left Me, which has been sold exclusively through HMV
and is distributed by Cargo, comes as Presley's own original label RCA
continues to mark the 30th anniversary of his death with a singles re-issue
programme. Its own re-issue Blue Suede Shoes was on course to join My Baby
Left Me as a new entry in the new singles chart.

In many cases, labels exploiting the copyright rule will issue recordings by
using original pressings, but Memphis Recording Service managing director
Joseph Pirzada reveals he has access to many master tapes, safety masters
and second-generation recordings, which he can use.

"I have got four or five reels and I know where to get more," he says. "I
pay a guy for a good transfer at a high bit rate and then reduce it down for
CD."

Pirzada is planning to release a further Presley album in November called
Elvis Presley: The New York RCA Studio One Complete Series, through
distributor Cargo. For My Baby Left Me, he says he has "not spent a single
penny on advertising," instead promoting the single through Presley fan
clubs and websites.

HMV rock & pop buyer John Hirst says, "There's always been a strong affinity
between Elvis and HMV, not least because his UK recordings came out on the
HMV label, and there are plenty of shots of Elvis taken with the Nipper
icon."

A spokesman for PPL, which has played a leading role in the copyright
campaign, says, "This merely highlights the illogicality of the copyright
gap and the fact that performers and producers will no longer earn revenues
from an ever increasing number of recordings."
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