Barrister Francis McEntegart on the latest developments in musical copyright law

MUSIC performers are celebrating the possibility of an extension to the copyright term for music recordings to 95 years.
Performing artists currently only receive royalties for 50 years.
Artists such as The Beatles, Elvis and Cliff Richard, who has been at the forefront of the campaign, would soon be seeing the end of a lucrative part of their earnings.
That is even more true for Cliff, who did not write his hits. Living Doll, released in 1959, is set to slip outside the 50-year term in July, meaning anyone could copy the recording without Cliff seeing a penny.
But this month the European Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee approved legislation to extend the term.
Song writers already receive royalties for their lifetime, and for 70 years after they have gone to the big studio in the sky.
The British government have made a U-turn from its previous standpoint, following their previous opposition to any increase, in the 2006 review by Andrew Gowers, which rejected any extension of rights.
However, performers should not start spending their future royalties yet. It may be that the extension is not as long as 95 years. The extension may be shorter or not at all.
More importantly, the copyright mentioned helps the owner of the copyright in the recordings - usually the record companies, not the performer.
The right which the artist should be concerned with is known as the performance right, and that has not been mentioned.
In any event, they should question why they don't get a right for life, plus 70 years, like the songwriter.
The legislation will now go to a meeting of the Parliament on March 11, as well as the Council of Ministers.

Francis McEntegart is managing director of Chime Creative Management, in Liverpool.