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What’s the time limit on mechanical copyrights?

Roger Waters has re-recorded Dark Side of the Moon.

Why?

See headline?

17 thoughts on “What’s the time limit on mechanical copyrights?”

  1. 50 years, I presume. God, I’m getting old. I can remember exactly when and where I bought it the day it came out.

  2. Master recording rights are 50 years after it’s made and 70 years after being released. presumably you’d re-master it and gain the same protection so your estate would still earn royalties.

    However, he’s re-corded it on his own so no other member of Pink Floyd or their estates will get a penny of this version so I think there’s a hint of bitterness from Roger Waters.

  3. Yeah, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/copyright-notice-duration-of-copyright-term/copyright-notice-duration-of-copyright-term

    Released ’73, so currently bang on 50 years ago. 70 years takes Waters to 2043. He’s 79 now, apparently got three kids. Presumably, when the pig buys the farm, royalties will flow to them for the next 70 years via the estate.

    (Related, always been curious about why Brian Herbert spunked the product of his diseased imagination onto paper when he did. IIRC, it was around the time when the extension from 50 years from the creator’s death to 70 was being debated, with the complication of whatever the US was going do. And there’s derivative works as well.)

  4. As presumably the original recording will never stop selling for as long as it remains available do all royalties and performing rights etc simply cease. Surely a re-recording which is substantially different will not attract royalties from the previous version.

  5. I probably should listen to it to see if it sucks as badly as the original.

    Nah, I’m old enough to assume it’s still crap and not waste my time.

  6. I wonder if Waters will allow his new recording to be sold in Israel? It will depend if his desire for cash outweighs his antisemitism. Revealed preferences in action!

  7. BlokeInTejasWithALinn

    Aa

    At 90 quid it’s probably a highfalutin high quality special pressing. An, quite possibly, worth the money if you have a nice gramophone thingy etc.

  8. I dont think Floyd get any royalties any more from sales of Darkside. I could be wrong but I vaguely remember reading something to that effect, it’s a termm of the recording contract. At the time they thought no-one would be buying it 30 (?) years on. This could simply be an attempt to establish a pension he feels cheated out of.

  9. It will depend if his desire for cash outweighs his antisemitism.

    Yes its all his fault the IDF are a bunch of murderous thugs

  10. Yes its all his fault the IDF are a bunch of murderous thugs

    It’s partly his fault that so many fuck heads think so.

  11. @BiND
    Aye, especially Echoes. And Wish You Were here is ‘sit in the car on the driveway until it finishes’. But my preference is Division Bell and High Hopes. Waterless.
    Unmatched Friday Evening music.

  12. Pink Floyd pre Gilmour were quite frankly shite, with production values like it had been recorded underwater in a public toilet. A lot of their stuff with Gilmour was shite too, but well-made shite.

  13. @dearieme
    Those pendants missing the point. It isn’t astronomical, it’s about madness.
    cv Barrett,Sid

    NB Iron Sky makes the same mistake, but with less excuse. Though it is a comedy.

  14. The whole PF catalogue has been remastered and reissued often in extended versions over the past 20 years.

    There was a row between Gilmour and Waters over the sleeve notes the latter wanted attached to Animals delaying that release by several years.

    Interestingly the band have been (re)issuing their own live bootlegs in limited editions. They were available only online and deleted soon after. I assume this is to prevent bootleggers issuing “legal” versions. Us it or lose it I guess.

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