On New Year’s Eve, 75 rare Rolling Stones songs were released on YouTube. It seems that this has been done to stop the songs from entering the public domain as their copyright rights were expiring, and by placing the songs on YouTube they have just before they expired they have extended the lifespan of the copyright protection.
These songs were made public on YouTube by the YouTube account 69RSTRAX, who posted the collection of the 75 unreleased songs and recordings. These videos contained no commentary or explanation and were set to private just hours later on the 1st of January.
69RSTRAX’s YouTube channel was only made two days before the recordings were made public and the profile had no personal details, only an email address which linked to business enquires at ABKCO – the music publishing company which own the rights to a substantial amount of the early recordings of the Rolling Stones catalogue.
Copyright is a right which happens upon the creation of the work. Sound recordings are protected regardless of the software or the method in which the sound is reproduced. Upon creation of a sound recording, it will have copyright rights for the duration of 50 years from the end of the calendar year that the recording was made. This duration can be extended by a further 20 years if the music is published during the 50-year period or if it is played or communicated in public.
By posting these sound recordings on the biggest video sharing platform, ABKCO’s recordings of the Rolling Stones songs have been lawfully communicated to the public and therefore extended the duration of the copyright for a further 20 years, meaning that the songs are still protected and not part of the public domain. This may be questionable dependent on whether the EU would deem it as being sufficient with regards to the public communication of the works, as the songs were only accessible for a few hours and seems more like a ploy to extend the duration of its copyright rights.
Written by Owen White Third Year Law Student at Solent University
