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The Library of Congress' National Recording Preservation Board has released a report that paints a grim view of a future where, due to current copyright laws, the preservation of current audio recordings for future generations is at risk.
Due to issues of fair use, and the lengthy time it takes audio recordings to go into public domain (up to 177 years after first created, much longer than other forms of audio visual content), it is increasingly difficult for preservation to occur. And copyright holders are reluctant to give up rights to works they hold, even though most of these works have not earned any revenue for many years, and has no prospect of earning more revenue. Out of all the recordings made between 1890 and 1964, only 14% have been made available by rights holders, one study found.
"Were copyright law followed to the letter, little audio preservation would be undertaken," the report warns. "Were the law strictly enforced, it would brand virtually all audio preservation as illegal."
The report recommends several measures which include a maximum term of 50 to 75 for control of copyright before works fall into the public domain, and one key measure simply reads as "allow libraries to more easily make audio copies and share files".
But with rightsholder reluctant to give up what they own, and increasing numbers using DRM to protect their work (DRM that will not be supported in some future date when these work become historically significant), the very future of cultural preservation is at risk.
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Due to issues of fair use, and the lengthy time it takes audio recordings to go into public domain (up to 177 years after first created, much longer than other forms of audio visual content), it is increasingly difficult for preservation to occur. And copyright holders are reluctant to give up rights to works they hold, even though most of these works have not earned any revenue for many years, and has no prospect of earning more revenue. Out of all the recordings made between 1890 and 1964, only 14% have been made available by rights holders, one study found.
"Were copyright law followed to the letter, little audio preservation would be undertaken," the report warns. "Were the law strictly enforced, it would brand virtually all audio preservation as illegal."
The report recommends several measures which include a maximum term of 50 to 75 for control of copyright before works fall into the public domain, and one key measure simply reads as "allow libraries to more easily make audio copies and share files".
But with rightsholder reluctant to give up what they own, and increasing numbers using DRM to protect their work (DRM that will not be supported in some future date when these work become historically significant), the very future of cultural preservation is at risk.
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