----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Lennick" <[log in to unmask]>
> Pardon me while I stop choking over this hilarious bit of BS:
>
> "If the present term of 50 years is kept, some 7.000 performers, in the UK 
> alone, will lose all of their airplay royalties over the next ten years. 
> We are not talking about featured artists like Sir Cliff Richard or the 
> Beatles here. This is about the thousands of anonymous session 
> musicians[1], who contributed to sound recordings in the late fifties and 
> sixties. They will no longer get airplay royalties from their recordings, 
> even though these royalties often contribute to their pension. They will 
> lose protection just when online retailing promises a new source of 
> revenue."
>
> SESSION MUSICIANS HAVE BEEN COLLECTING ROYALTIES?!
>
Possible...depending on the terms of their union contract (but NOT before
sometime in the fifties...?!). HOWEVER...this is only superficially affected
by the copyright term for sound recordings...in the sense that once a sound
recording "falls into the public domain," it can be reissued by anyone who
sees fit (but the reissuer STILL has to pay the publisher royalties..!) 
Also,
note that any payments due the performers do NOT depend on the status
of the recording's copyright...all they will lose is (are) any theoretical
royalties due on a reissue of the recording...!

...stevenc