Elvis records public domain first

Elvis records public domain first

28 August 2007 - 08:00:00

The debate over recorded copyright extension has reached the UK singles chart for the first time, as a public domain Elvis Presley track was on Sunday poised for a Top 40 debut.

My Baby Left Me, which was recorded by Presley in 1956 and so lost its protection on January 1 this year, has been re-issued by Memphis Recording Service in what is the most high-profile exploitation yet of the 50-year copyright rule.

Under the rule, any label can issue a recording more than 50 years old without paying any royalties to the original label, performers or their estates. It has provoked fierce lobbying within the UK music industry to increase the term period, including a campaign undertaken by Music Week, although the UK Government last month declared it was backing the findings of last year’s Gowers Review not to back term extension.

The release of My Baby Left Me, which has been sold exclusively through HMV and is distributed by Cargo, comes as Presley’s own original label RCA continues to mark the 30th anniversary of his death with a singles re-issue programme. Its own re-issue Blue Suede Shoes was on course to join My Baby Left Me as a new entry in the new singles chart.

In many cases, labels exploiting the copyright rule will issue recordings by using original pressings, but Memphis Recording Service managing director Joseph Pirzada reveals he has access to many master tapes, safety masters and second-generation recordings, which he can use.

“I have got four or five reels and I know where to get more,” he says. “I pay a guy for a good transfer at a high bit rate and then reduce it down for CD.”

Pirzada is planning to release a further Presley album in November called Elvis Presley: The New York RCA Studio One Complete Series, through distributor Cargo. For My Baby Left Me, he says he has “not spent a single penny on advertising,” instead promoting the single through Presley fan clubs and websites.

HMV rock & pop buyer John Hirst says, “There’s always been a strong affinity between Elvis and HMV, not least because his UK recordings came out on the HMV label, and there are plenty of shots of Elvis taken with the Nipper icon.”

A spokesman for PPL, which has played a leading role in the copyright campaign, says, “This merely highlights the illogicality of the copyright gap and the fact that performers and producers will no longer earn revenues from an ever increasing number of recordings.”