> what if one encoutered a collector who had a sole surviving copy > of a performance by a major performing organization...the > person does not own the rights to the performance recording No, but the recording itself might have value if sold to someone who could release it on CD. I assume that in Europe, after 50 years, the US copyright issues would not apply, so you might be limited to selling it to someone in another country. What you would get for it is another matter. If, like so many classical CDs, they print a run of 1000 and that's all, the value would be limited by the potential market. js