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 Secretary: David Ades

 The Robert Farnon Society was founded in England in 1956. Our aim is to keep members fully informed on Robert Farnon’s work and new recordings of his music. We also praise the many other fine composers from around the world who have contributed so much to Light Music, not forgetting Film Music, Light Classics and also Jazz.

 "JOURNAL INTO MELODY" is our quarterly magazine, and we hold two meetings in London each year - usually at the beginning of April and the end of November. For more details, and the date of our next meeting, please click on our "JOURNAL INTO MELODY" page.

 Although based in England, the Robert Farnon Society has members all over the world.

Latest news items

SOUND COPYRIGHT : THE BATTLE CONTINUES Despite two exhaustive surveys into the question of sound copyright (the Gowers Review in Britain, and Amsterdam University in a specially commissioned study for the European Union) an astonishing proposal has come from Charlie McCreevy, the EU Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, who is supposed to be the custodian of Europe's musical heritage. The two afore-mentioned surveys both came down firmly against any extension of the period under the present law which allows recordings more than 50 years old to fall into the public domain. In practice this means that an independent record company can consider reissuing such recordings again, if the original record company no longer wishes to keep them available to record buyers. Since most recordings are deleted within four years of their original release, it is estimated that at least 95% of records are only available for a short while and therefore are unobtainable for around 46 years of the remaining time they remain in copyright. Today hundreds of CDs are issued each year of recordings more than 50 years old which have been ignored by the major record companies. Most only sell in hundreds rather than thousands to keen collectors, so they hardly represent a threat to the huge international conglomerates that now control the music business. Unlike the times when most record companies were establishing themselves during the early years of the last century, they are not interested in culture - they just want to make profits. The EU's proposal is to increase the period of sound copyright from 50 to an astonishing 95 years. It must be emphasised that this is not the same as royalties paid to the composers and lyricists who create the music: they (and their descendants) receive royalties for up to 70 years after their death. Independent record companies who currently reissue recordings more than 50 years old still have to pay composer royalties. If the present EU proposals are adopted and become law, it will mean that hundreds of CDs of older recordings will no longer be issued, and generations will be deprived the opportunity of buying music that was recorded during the early part of the last century. Composers will also lose the royalties they would have received if independent companies had still been reissuing their music. Lessons should be learned from what has happened in the USA: towards the end of the 1990s they changed their sound copyright term from 50 to 95 years, and the result has been that hardly any CDs of older recordings are now released. Americans have to look to European companies if they want to hear their rich musical heritage. It is not too late to persuade the EU to think again, because the proposals are due to be considered in detail later in the year - probably in July. If you share our view that such a move would be detrimental to your enjoyment of music, please make your feelings known by writing to: Mr. Charlie McCreevy European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services EUROPEAN COMMISSION B-1049 Brussels BELGIUM To be fair to Mr. McCreevy, his proposals are part of a wider package aimed at giving musicians a fairer share of the royalties from recordings. We fully support this aspiration, but firmly believe that this ambition can easily be achieved without the need to deprive countless thousands of music lovers from buying the kind of music they really want to hear.

SOUND COPYRIGHT : SIGN THE PETITION! A number of organisations are now making their voices heard against proposals to increase the present term for sound copyright in Europe. Having read the report above, if you support our view that this would be detrimental to your enjoyment of music (and also harmful to composers, because it could severely reduce their royalty payments) then please consider signing a petition which has already gained thousands of signatures from concerned music lovers like us. Visit http://www.soundcopyright.eu/home and follow the clear instructions.

DISCUSSION FORUM Our discussion forum is back online.

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