COPYRIGHT: Term fate could be decided this week.

Senior European officials to meet Wednesday to consider revised draft

By Robert Ashton

The music industry's frustrating, nailbiting and stomach-churning ride on the rollercoaster of term extension could soon be over, following a big diplomatic push from the UK Government in Brussels over the last few days.

Now sources are suggesting that the industry will learn its fate on term as early as this Wednesday when another crucial meeting of senior European officials will consider a further revised draft of the term of protection Directive, which contains UK Government amendments.

Those amendments make clear that the UK will only settle for copyright term to be extended to 70 years across Europe if future contracts signed after the Directive becomes effective are included in the deal.

This means performers signing contracts in the future will also benefit from a proposed performers fund and clean slate provision, where rights revert to the performers. According to insiders, the UK is now having some success in bringing other territories on board with this.

How performers and musicians ultimately benefit from term extension was the main sticking point at the end of last month, when the UK Government surprised and infuriated many in the industry by siding with 11 other European countries, including Italy and the Netherlands, to vote against term extension. At that meeting of the permanent representatives committee, the Government said it did not believe the deal on the table would deliver "real and lasting benefits to performers".