BBC RADIO-2 TRIBUTE TO ANGELA MORLEY

"Friday Night is Music Night" on Friday 5 February pays tribute to the arranger Angela Morley who died last year. Angela was born Wally Stott in Leeds in March 1924. In a career at the BBC, Wally was the musical director for the Goon Show and wrote the signature tune and accompanying music to Hancock's Half Hour. As a musical director in the 1950s and 1960s, Wally worked with the cream of British pop including the likes of Shirley Bassey, Anne Shelton, Dusty Springfield and Ronnie Carroll. He also composed a number of tuneful light music pieces including 'Rotten Row' and 'A Canadian in Mayfair', written as a tribute to Robert Farnon.

Following a sex change operation in 1960, Wally took the name Angela Morley and became one of the great orchestral arrangers working mostly in the United States. She won two Emmy Awards for her work with Julie Andrews and was nominated twice for an Oscar for her work on 'The Slipper and the Rose' with the Sherman Brothers and 'The Little Prince' with Lerner and Loewe. She also provided the scores for classic 70s television shows such as 'Dallas', 'Dynasty' and 'Cagney and Lacey'.

From the 1970s Angela was closely associated with the composer John Williams and aided him in the production of many of his classic film scores - including 'Star Wars', 'Superman' and 'ET'. It began a long association with the Boston Pops Orchestra.

Keith Lockhart is the current principal conductor of the Boston Pops and in Friday's broadcast he and the BBC Concert Orchestra perform some of Angela's finest work from the Boston Pops Library as well as some Friday Night favourites including music from 'The Slipper And The Rose' and 'Watership Down'. The concert is broadcast 'live' in the United Kingdom on Radio-2 and it can also be heard worldwide via the BBC's website. It can also be heard for seven days after the broadcast via the website.

EX-BBC RADIO-2 PRESENTER MALCOLM LAYCOCK HAS DIED

It is with sincere regret that we have to report that Malcolm Laycock died on Sunday 8 November. Malcolm had been a good friend of The Robert Farnon Society for many years, and members will recall several happy occasions when he participated in our London meetings. In October 1997 RFS Secretary David Ades accompanied Malcolm to Canada for a week of celebrations in Ottawa when Robert Farnon was honoured by his homeland during his 80th anniversary year. Until recently Malcolm presented a weekly radio programme on Sunday evenings and his sudden departure from Radio-2 prompted wide press coverage. The December issue of Journal Into Melody had already been printed the week before Malcolm’s death, but a full obituary to a warm, friendly and extremely knowledgeable man will appear in the RFS magazine next March. He had been invited to be a guest at the forthcoming RFS London meeting on 29 November, but he explained that he would be away visiting his sister in the USA.

The following report appeared on the Radio Today Industry News website:

Former BBC Radio 2 and World Service presenter and Jazz FM programme controller Malcolm Laycock has died. Malcolm spent 14 years with Radio 2 presenting Sunday Night at 10 - a programme which plays big band music from the 1930s and 1940s - hosting his last one just a few months ago. He also helped set up Jazz FM in London, becoming programme controller. He won a Sony Radio Award for his programme Billie Holliday In Her Own Words. At the end of his last programme in July, he said:

"And from me Malcolm Laycock, with great regret, I have to say that this is my last ‘Sunday Night at 10’ programme. It’s been a pleasure and a privilege to sit in this chair every week for the last 14 years. I’ve made many friends through the programme, and many of you have been kind enough to write to me and send me messages of encouragement. Thank you – I’m going to miss our weekly get-togethers. And I must thank, too, my original producer Roy Oakshott, and my current producer Caroline Snook. So, finally, I leave you with the band who’ll be playing at the Concorde Club on Wednesday, the ‘Back to Basie’ Orchestra, and another classic – Neal Hefti’s "Flight of the Foo Birds". So for the last time – take care!"

Bob Shennan, controller of Radio 2 and 6 Music, told BBC News Mr Laycock's former colleagues were "shocked and saddened" to hear of his death: "Malcolm was a much-loved and highly respected broadcaster, renowned for his skill as a presenter and producer, and his passion for music and radio," he said.

EUROPEAN UNION PROPOSALS TO EXTEND SOUND COPYRIGHT - THE LATEST NEWS

On 4 September the Swedish minister of justice, Beatrice Ask, disclosed that Sweden, holding the EU presidency this year, will not give priority to the question of copyright extension on recordings. The message was delivered during a committee hearing in Brussels.

The decision reflects the Swedish government's view that there is not enough support, within the European Union, for an extension. According to political commentators this means that an extension is, at least, a few years away, and depends on whether a future president country manages to propose a new compromise.

It is interesting to note that EMI is currently launching a big campaign to reissue all of the Beatles’ recordings. Surely they must be wanting to gain as much as possible from this valuable resource before it starts to fall out of sound copyright in around four years’ time if the present law continues to apply. Perhaps the major record companies are worried that their efforts to stifle competition may not succeed after all. There does seem to be a growing movement internationally against restrictive copyrights in all areas of the arts.

9 September 2009

THE EXTENSION OF SOUND RECORDING COPYRIGHT IN EUROPE – AN UPDATE

Knowing that I have been in correspondence with, among others, the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO), and the Culture Secretary (replaced in a Cabinet shuffle two days after I wrote!), our Editor asked me if I would prepare a "state of play" piece for the benefit of RFS members.

The news is that little has changed since the last issue of JIM – the proposals have not received final approval and, because there is considerable confusion regarding some of the details, it seems unlikely that they will in the near future. The problems arise because when, in April 2009, the European Parliament voted in favour of a copyright extension to 70 years (rather than the 95 originally proposed), the amended proposal also contained a number of other significant changes. The main one was to the "use it or lose it" clause. This originally said that if, at the end of the first 50-year copyright term, a recording was not available to consumers it had to be made so within a year, either by the record company or the artist, otherwise it became public domain. This is no longer the case and the amendment also deleted relatively straightforward proposals which would have ensured that "orphan works" (e.g. recordings where the artists are no longer alive or cannot be traced) also became public domain after 50 years.

Enquiries I have made suggest that few people (including many MEPs and much of the media) realised that what was voted through was nothing like the original proposal; hence it attracted very little media coverage, either at the time or since.

The next stage should have been ratification by The Council Of Ministers but, fortunately, there were a number of dissenting countries whose objections ranged from total opposition to concern that parts of the proposals needed clarification. Britain, although supporting the proposal in principle wanted, among other things, clarification of the section dealing with royalty payments for backing musicians and so voted against.

There should then have been further discussion by The Council Of Ministers during May and June but the Czech Republic, who had Presidency of the EU at the time and thus controlled the meetings, was one of the countries opposed to the extension so they didn’t put it on the agenda.

This prompted Labour MP Michael Connarty, who is Chairman of the European Scrutiny Select Committee and a staunch supporter of extension, to raise the matter in Business Questions in the House of Commons and claim that they were abusing their position by keeping the proposal off the agenda. He said: "I just want the Czech Presidency to allow democracy to proceed in Europe and put copyright term back on the agenda. The common view is that ministers from member states should have the opportunity to decide. The European Parliament has already voted, by a big majority, to support session musicians and others with the Term of Protection Directive. It is now time for the Council of Ministers to be given that opportunity in their meetings next week chaired by the Czech Presidency."

Having studied some of Mr. Connarty’s other public statements I believe that, like many others, he is too focussed on the "Cliff Richard and the 1960s Top Twenty" perspective and doesn’t appear to appreciate the possible detrimental effect on the availability of recordings of other music. I find this rather surprising as he is joint chair of the All Party Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group and the availability of historic recordings from this genre would certainly be affected by the proposed legislation.

The Czech Republic relinquished the Presidency at the end of June and Sweden has taken over for the next six months. As one of the countries opposed to both the original and amended proposals they are very unlikely to bring the matter forward for discussion. This takes us to 2010 when Spain is in charge followed by Belgium (who also opposed the amended proposals). In 2011 it’s the turn of Hungary and Poland so, if they are not great supporters of the extension, many of us are hoping that it has "gone away" for the time being. Incidentally, other countries voting against the amended proposals included Denmark, Malta, The Netherlands, Romania, Slovenia, Austria, and Finland.

So, let us consider what might happen if the current proposals eventually became law and a recording has reached the end of the first 50-year term. A very small percentage of such recordings will still be in the record company's catalogue so they will retain the copyright and the artists will continue to receive royalties based on sales and public performances. A so far unanswered question is "Does the record company then have to keep the recording in its catalogue for the full 70-year term in order to retain the copyright?"

However, the vast majority will not have been available for purchase by consumers for many years (for example I estimate that well over 50% of 1960 recordings aren't currently available) and it is here that there is much confusion.

To summarise, the amended proposal says: At the end of the 50 year term the record company’s rights in a sound recording expire if (a) the record company doesn't have it available to the consumer, (b) the artist has served notice and requested transfer of their performers' rights and (c) the record company subsequently hasn't made the recording available within a year.

All three criteria would have to be met before the record company’s rights expire. The alarming consequence of this is that, if the artist doesn’t serve notice, the record company retains the copyright meaning that, even if they still decline to re-issue it, no one else can as it is not in the Public Domain.

This could apply to many recordings of interest to JIM readers as the artist(s) will either not be interested in seeking a rights transfer or are no longer alive. The latter situation was addressed in the original proposal by the "orphan works" clause but, as explained above, this no longer exists. Those wishing to know more about current thinking on how to deal with orphan works should look at Chapter 4, Section 39, of the Government’s June 2009 "Digital Britain" report but, be warned, it’s very heavy going! It may be found at:

http://www.culture.gov.uk/images/publications/digitalbritain-finalreport-jun09.pdf

If the artist does request transfer of their rights and the record company then fails to make the recording available within a year, although the recording itself becomes Public Domain, there are other rights associated with the recording. For example, anyone wishing to exploit that recording would have to pay royalties to the performer and (as they do at present) to the composer and lyricist.

On the plus side, there is currently no suggestion that any legislation passed would be retrospective. Thus, if it became law in 2011, recordings issued up to the end of 1960 would be in the Public Domain.

As consumers most of us hope that common sense will prevail and that the whole thing will be quietly dropped. However, the major players in the record industry who, let there be no doubt, stand to gain infinitely more than the artists, are determined that it will not. Therefore it is vital that the proposals are not implemented in their present form, otherwise thousands of recordings are likely to disappear into a copyright "black hole". This would drastically affect the availability of material to companies such as Avid, Bygone Days, Flare, Guild, Jasmine, Naxos, Retrospective, Rex, Sepia, Vocalion and others who specialise in reissuing out of copyright recordings. Alan Bunting

This article, from Journal Into Melody September 2009, is made available worldwide because of the important implications involved, which seem to have been misunderstood by many politicians.