Martin Simpson leads the campaign to retrieve 22 albums for 12 folk legends

28/05/2026

Help us get this music back to those who made it, and get it heard by a new generation

Almost the entire catalogues of Bill Leader’s twin Trailer and Leader imprints and also the Rubber Records label from the same era – catalogues all claimed currently by the same entity – have been unavailable for many years, most never available on CD let alone digitally.

These catalogues contain joyful, powerful, and beautiful music – but audiences have been unable to legally buy it other than through second-hand LPs on eBay, and artists and their heirs have been unable to earn royalties or see their work enjoyed by new generations.

Now, thanks to Cliff Richard (yes really!) some of the pioneering artists of the 1960s and 1970s have a clear-cut legal route to regain access to their work – including the rights to re-release it and to ensure session musicians get a share of the payment.

We’re fundraising, collectively, to cover the legal fees for a group of artists to hire the expert solicitor they need. To get more specific: if we raise the full target (outlined in more detail below) it will allow these artists active in the early 1970s to send watertight legal letters to the entity currently claiming ownership of their recordings (released prior to 1976) for the late Bill Leader’s Trailer label and in one case for Rubber Records.

Once those letters are sent, the clock will start ticking: the work has to be made properly available within 12 months of the letter’s sending, or the rights will return to the artist and/or heirs.

Help us start the clock and get this music back to those who made it, and into the ears of a new generation of music fans.

How is it possible for artists to retrieve recordings made for record labels over 50 years ago?

A few years ago, Cliff Richard led a campaign to extend the copyright in sound recordings from 50 to 70 years. He was successful, and that extension was enacted in 2013. But that extension – which allowed Cliff and his 1950s and 60s peers to continue to receive royalties from the originating record companies during their lifetimes – also imposed obligations on businesses holding or claiming the rights to sound recordings in that zone between 50 and 70 years.

In short, if recordings were unavailable for sale, an artist or heirs to an artist could serve a so-called “use it or lose it” Notice, and as a consequence one of two things had to happen:

the work in question had to be made available in properly distributed form, including via streaming, within 12 months of that letter OR
the rights to the recording would return to the artist or heirs after those 12 months had elapsed.

Additionally, if the business claiming ownership did re-release the work, it would have to pay the artist or heir for every copy sold, regardless of any historical debt. And finally, there are new rights for session musicians to get a share of the payments.

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