Sorry, that blog post title is misleading. The RIAA doesn't really love musicians. After all, this is an organization that exists to serve as "the trade organization that supports and promotes the creative and financial vitality of the major music companies." MAJOR MUSIC COMPANIES, not musicians who record for them.
The latest tactic from the Recording Industry Association of America is to refer to some of the world's most popular recording artists as 'employees' of record labels, and as such, not eligible to gain ownership of old recordings from 1978 and later. Wait, let's backtrack here, I'm getting ahead of this piece. As today's NY Times writes:
"When copyright law was revised in the mid-1970s, musicians, like creators of other works of art, were granted “termination rights,” which allow them to regain control of their work after 35 years, so long as they apply at least two years in advance. Recordings from 1978 are the first to fall under the purview of the law, but in a matter of months, hits from 1979, like “The Long Run” by the Eagles and “Bad Girls” by Donna Summer, will be in the same situation — and then, as the calendar advances, every other master recording once it reaches the 35-year mark."
And guys like Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne, Tom Petty, Billy Joel and others say they should have ownership of their old songs. Right, you'd think? They wrote 'em, sang 'em and performed 'em a million times? Nope, says the RIAA attorneys, per the article:
"“We believe the termination right doesn’t apply to most sound recordings,” said Steven Marks, general counsel for the Recording Industry Association of America, a lobbying group in Washington that represents the interests of record labels. As the record companies see it, the master recordings belong to them in perpetuity, rather than to the artists who wrote and recorded the songs, because, the labels argue, the records are “works for hire,” compilations created not by independent performers but by musicians who are, in essence, their employees."
Well, fuck me! That's likely what Tom Petty is saying right now! I mean, you don't want to live like a refugee, right? From the NY Times: "Congress passed the copyright law in 1976, specifying that it would go into effect on Jan. 1, 1978, meaning that the earliest any recording can be reclaimed is Jan. 1, 2013. But artists must file termination notices at least two years before the date they want to recoup their work, and once a song or recording qualifies for termination, its authors have five years in which to file a claim; if they fail to act in that time, their right to reclaim the work lapses."
That's ridiculous! Once again, as many many many many stories have told over the years, record companies screwed performers regularly over and over again. And here's another instance of the labels not being open to sharing some of the spoils from the artists' works. Hopefully, the musicians' lobby Future of Music Coalition will prove to be an influence for a rightful solution to this debacle.
Do you listen to music every day? I do. You should too. Something... ANYTHING. Make sure there's a hum in your heart and pulse in your step. Rock the body.
