Podcast Nation: December 2006

In a his long-anticipated report to the UK Government, former Financial Times editor Andrew Gowers has created disappointment in the British Music industry and hope among comedians and mash-up artists, by recommending that the copyright term in sound recordings be kept at 50 years, but that copyright exception is made "for the purpose of caricature, parody or pastiche". Uncontroversially, a private copying exception that will allow for legal format shifting is suggested. Currently, ripping legally-purchased CDs and transferring them onto any device, including computer or iPod can result in prosecution.

The Open Rights Group welcomed the Gowers review.

Matt Black from Coldcut said,

“The only people to benefit from term extension would be the giant traditional media groups - artists would actually benefit more from letting music enter the public domain. Extending copyright term for past works amounts to revising the deals made with artists without their consent. Who would sign a deal for a term of ‘50 years or however long we want to make it by lobbying to get the law changed’? The conclusion of the Gowers review that copyright term should not be extended is the correct one; we should not follow the lead of the US who have submitted to corporate demands by Big Media. Here we can recognise that music is a key part of our culture, (and, indeed, a key export), that recycling is a natural part of musical creativity and that not extending the existing copyright term will promote the creation of UK music.”

Peter Jamieson, BPI Chairman said,

"We will continue to make the case to the UK Government for term extension. As Mr Gowers says, the decision on extension is ultimately for the European Commission and we will be putting our case vigorously when it reviews the relevant directive next year. Gowers commissioned Cambridge economic research to argue the case against term extension; but this analysis completely fails to address the central argument of discrimination against sound recording copyright inherent in the current system.”

Radio Clash writes:

"...if "tranformative works" applied to mashups and cutup culture, and the effect across the industry if these suggestions are taken on board by the government? At the moment bodies such as the MCPS-PRS look down on what it calls 'unlicensed interpolations'; but if sampling is (preferably) allowed in the same US 'Fair Use' provision, or at least made less painful, that would be a great step forward...interesting that the Gowers Review recognises the issue that here in the UK the copyright law is way behind the US in this regard."