Hi ARSC,

Tim Brooks, Chair of the Copyright and Fair Use Committee, has written a statement on ARSC's position regarding the proposed CLASSICS Act, H.R. 3301. The bill would require that copyright owners be compensated for digital transmissions of pre-1972 recordings, but would stop short of granting federal copyright to these recordings, with the public domain and library privileges that are shared by other copyrighted intellectual property.

Please take a moment to read Tim's statement:

http://arsc-audio.org/blog/2018/03/12/classics-act/

If you would like to read the current text of the bill, you can do so at the first link below. If you agree that copyrighting pre-'72 recordings is in ARSC's and the public's best interest, consider contacting your representatives to request this change in the bill, especially if they are members of the House or Senate Judicial Committees (membership lists in second and third links below). For young audio archivists and preservationists, this may be our best chance to work under a system that treats audio the same as other media and encourages preservation and scholarship.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/3301/text
https://judiciary.house.gov/subcommittee/full-committee/
https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/

Thank you,
Mason Vander Lugt
ARSC Blog Editor