BMG are brickin' it

Anyone wondering why BMG Europe are releasing an Elvis single a week for the foreseeable future?

Seems their European copyrights are due to expire on large amounts of his material and while they petition governments to extend copyrights, they're rushing as much crap into the charts as possible to make as much money in as little time as they can... just in case.

Without ammendments to the law, Elvis' track "That's All Right" has fallen into the public domain as of 1 January 2005, so play it where and when you want and you don't have to pay anyone for the privledge!

As it currently works, the copyright law is as such:

- In the United States, under the 1998 Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, sound recordings are protected for 95 years from the day of recording. For recordings done post-1976, coverage is the artist's life plus 70 years.

- In most of the European Union, the duration is 50 years after the first release of a sound recording.

Link: Elvisnews.com

And then there were four?

With news that the impending merger between Sony and BMG's recorded music divisions apparently getting the go-ahead, I have to ask, is no one else scared of the ramifications of this? There will only be four majors left - BMGSony, Warners, EMI and Universal (three if EMI's bedhopping actually comes of something with Warners).

Back in the heyday of music - I like to call it the 80s - there were loads of "Majors" - MCA, Polygram, Warner, Sony, RCA, EMI - as well as a thriving indie industry - Go Disc!, Mute, Rough Trade, etc. You see, competition was a good thing.

Now that all the indies have either gone bust or been swallowed up by the majors, who are swallowing each other up in some sort of cannibalistic Darwinian nightmare, it can't be long until music will be released by the EMIBMGWarnerUniversalSony Record Label Ltd., the only remaining outlet for recorded music.

Monopolies are good for no one, as pricefixing and stagnation of product usually is the result (cough... Microsoft...)

Thankfully, as these majors are picking themselves off one by one, stalwarts are beginning to emerge. The Sanctuary Group, known for giving a chance to bands who's time has come and gone, are becoming a huge player in the international arena.

The feather in their cap seems to be not only recorded music, but a music management division as well as lucrative music publishing. Rumour has it they've just signed up Courtney Love for a publishing deal. This may not seem of much interest as she seems to spend more time in a pile of cocaine than making music, but she does hold the key to dead hubby Kurt's music as well. With the keys to the Nirvana publishing castle, Sanctuary stand to eek out some very good business deals in the coming years.

But, to reinterate, I am concerned about the BMG Sony merger.

Lyrics, what luxury

BMG are striking out at pirates and trying to make nice with music fans by releasing CDs in three different tiers.

The first tier is set to compete head-on with piracy. The no-frills version will be a CD with titles printed on the disc (sorta like what you'd get making a CD-R from MP3s). This will sell for just under €10.

The second tier is a full-fat version, with cover and lyrics, which will cost €12.99. The top tier will be a luxury version with added value (additional material or DVD video) and will go out for €17.99.

It's interesting that a major label is taking this plunge. The amount of time, effort and CDs pressed for a three-pronged attack will be immense. However, for music fans who relish the "extras" (sleeves with lyrics, etc.) the offer of a choice is welcome, as is the choice to just have the music.

Time will tell how well this initiative goes, but anything other than DRM-infected Copy Controlled discs is much welcomed.