Commissioner McCreevy confirmed (as on February 14th, 2008) his intention to extend the term of protection for European performers rights from 50 to 95 years. In his words, “copyright protection for Europe’s performers represents a moral right to control the use of their work and earn a living from their performances”. Nowadays, performers have protection of their works for 50 years from the time of their performances, while authors enjoy copyright protection that lasts for 70 years after his or her death. The Commissioner stressed that “the current term of protection for performers is no longer the lifetime coverage it once was, and this measure is aimed at the thousands of anonymous session musicians who have contributed to much loved and listened to sound recordings”.

Mr. McCreevy’s proposal will have two main consequences:

• Firstly, performers will be able to control how their performances are used and will allow them to object to their work being abused or used in a way they don’t want;
  
• Secondly, they will continue to receive royalties and airplay remuneration for their entire life and still a little after their death;

Besides this extension, the proposal includes a special fund provided by each record company devoted to session musicians. The company will have to pay a percentage of its increased revenues in the extended period into this fund. Also concerning music labels, a “use or lose it” clause will be set up, which means  that if a record company does not make the sound recording available on the market for a certain time, performers can claim their rights back.

Finally, Commissioner McCreevy dispelled doubts regarding, firstly, the consequences of term extension on trade, and secondly, the consequences over the music prices. On one hand, he said “most of the additional revenue collected will remain in Europe and benefit European performers; on the other hand, he underlined that “empirical evidence indicates that prices of recordings that are in or out of copyright are relatively similar”.

Next steps:
EC proposal for the extension of term of protection for related rights: summer 2008

To read Mr. McCreevy speech, please click here
To access the Directive 2006/116/EC of December 12th, 2006, repealing the Directive 93/98/EEC of October 29th, 1993, harmonising the term of protection of copyright and certain related rights, please click here