[pd-discuss] Fwd: News release: The sound of music - for the first time in 60 years

Fri Jul 9 17:15:21 UTC 2010

Interesting. I wonder:

(i) how much of the original material is in the public domain
(ii) whether the digital copies are free for anyone to reuse (either
in public domain, or at least under an open license...)

All the best,

Jonathan

---------- Forwarded message ----------

News release
8 July 2010

The sound of music - for the first time in 60 years

This week’s top ten includes one UK artist and 9 from overseas – but
it wasn’t always that way.

Before two record companies merged to form EMI in the 1930s, UK-based
artists formed the backbone of their catalogues – but after the merger
many of them were dropped to make way for more lucrative international
musicians.

Now over 2000 recordings by those British and Irish artists are online
in an open JISC-funded archive at King’s College London - allowing
listeners and researchers to rediscover leading musicians who were
once household names.

Most of the recordings are making their first public appearance since
they came out on gramophone records over 60 years ago and are linked
to a range of research resources about the history of recording to
help people make the most of the collection.

Professor Daniel Leech-Wilkinson, project manager, said: “There is
still a huge amount of recorded music that remains inaccessible in old
formats. While the earliest formats are remarkably secure on account
of their storage medium, very few people can now find, and still fewer
can play, 78rpm discs. There is therefore much to be gained for the
musical public, as well as for students and researchers, from projects
that transfer and reissue early recordings.”

The discs were selected specifically to highlight world-class British
and Irish performers recorded between 1900 and 1950, especially
artists neglected by the newly-formed EMI after the merger of the
Gramophone Co and Columbia in 1931.

Distinguished author and critic John Steane of Gramophone magazine
joined the team to curate the recordings, which are now available for
free streaming as MP3s or for high quality download.

There are also some unusual pieces in the collection – including a
recording of the choir singing at the coronation of King George VI and
Queen Elizabeth in 1937 which includes one of the most spectacular
wrong notes in recorded history from the organ.

Ben Showers, programme manager at JISC, said: “By making so many
recordings available once again, ‘Musicians of Britain and Ireland’
aims to make possible a major reassessment of the history of musical
performance in Britain, and to enable new research into the ways in
which business decisions by record companies can profoundly change
public perceptions of musical excellence.”

The project is part of JISC’s investment in bringing the past into the
present, by supporting collections to open up the rich content that
they hold.

Access the collection online at <http://www.charm.kcl.ac.uk/sound/sound.html>

Find out more about JISC’s investment in digital content at
<http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/digitisation>

-- 
Jonathan Gray

Community Coordinator
The Open Knowledge Foundation
http://blog.okfn.org

http://twitter.com/jwyg
http://identi.ca/jwyg