Some disturbing news from Techdirt: “Why World War I Recordings Won’t Enter The Public Domain Until 2049.” Seems sound-recordings were left out of the 1909 Copyright Act, purposely:
First, Congress wondered about the constitutional validity of such protection. The Constitution allows Congress to protect “writings,” and Congress was uncertain as to whether a sound recording could constitute a writing. Second, Congress worried that allowing producers to exclusively control both the musical notation and the sound recording could lead to the creation of a music monopoly.
Turns out, tho, even tho Congress intended sound-recordings to have less or no © protection, by not covering it in the 1909 © Act, sound now has greater protection. The article has all the arcane details, and a mention of this nifty Cornell list: public domain tracker.
Meanwhile, HV continues its ongoing effort to flagrantly violate the law:
“Over There” sung by Billy Murray, written by George M. Cohan (3:34 mp3):
Thanks:
First World War.com – Vintage Audio – Over There
Virginia Tech Special Collections: Early Sheet Music
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Caruso died before the introduction of higher fidelity, electrical recording technology in 1925. All of his recordings were made using the acoustic process, which required the recording artist to sing into a metal horn or funnel which relayed sound directly to a master disc via a stylus. This process captured only a limited range of the overtones and nuances present in the singing voice. Caruso’s 12-inch acoustic recordings were limited to a maximum duration of around four and one half minutes. Consequently, most of the selections that he recorded were limited to those that could be edited to fit this time constraint. Longer selections were occasionally issued on two or more record sides.
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