In case you haven’t been following things, here’s a link to the latest news from Dick Gaughan’s legal campaign to regain intellectual, artistic and financial credit from some of his critical early works:
https://gofund.me/21cef1382
Put your hand in your pocket if you can – this is an important campaign that will have ramifications for a lot of other musicians.
Tell it like it is.
Yep, donated. I believe that this is a righteous cause, and that Colin H is doing something incredibly important. I am impressed by how it’s being handled by the legal team, too.
Thank you, Vulpmeister! There’s lots going on, but you’ll understand that I can say very little about Gaughan matters beyond what is in the GoFundMe updates – the most recent two explainng that 12 months’ notice has been served on the current claimants of ‘No More Forever’ (1972) and ‘The Boys of the Lough’ (1973).
Under the ‘use it or lose it’ provisions in ‘Cliff Richard’s law’ covering sound recordings between 50-70 years old (with 70 years being the point at which they fall into the public domain), people sitting on mothballed recordings must – upon an artist asserting their rights – within 12 months either release a quality, market-appropriate and properly distributed physical and digital reissue of the work(s) in question *and* pay the artist for every sale (regardless of any historical debt or alleged historical debt) OR give the work(s) back to the artist.
What I can say, aside from Gaughan-specific matters, is that several other artists and heirs of artists have contacted me recently and are looking into asserting their rights similarly.
Several fans have also asked me about Nic Jones – whose career ended in a life-changing car accident in 1982. Is there anything that can be done around his albums on the Trailer label?
In brief, there is nothing to stop ANY ARTIST OR HEIRS OF ARTISTS who recorded for the Leader, Trailer or Rubber labels (all claimed by the same people in the Gaughan matter) from hiring a solicitor and using the 50–70 year legal provisions to either retrieve rights or compel remunerated reissue of the sound recordings in question (currently, those released before 1976). That also goes for recordings that might be languishing unheard for decades in the vaults of EMI, Pye, Fontana, Decca, Topic, Transatlantic, Island, BMG, Universal, Sony, Warners or ANY business currently or previously involved in releasing records in Britain.
Nic Jones is 79. It’s for Nic and those close to him to decide whether to assert his rights to the two albums and tracks on a third that are now beyond the 50-year threshold. Nic’s wife Julia – his long-term champion in trying to retrieve his recordings – passed on two years ago. It may be that the will to revisit the pain of that aspiration is gone – I don’t know.
What I do know – being a consultant in the archive music world of reissues, box sets and rights ownership – is that if any artists/heirs retrieve rights to 1960s/70s sound recordings, and wish to monetise those rights in the here and now, which may be of real value to artists now late in life, there will likely be good offers to buy those rights (and re-release the music) available. People could fairly easily figure out who the obvious rights-acquiring music businesses would be, but I’ll happily pass on a few contacts if anyone asks me.
MUSIC SHOULD BE HEARD and I would dearly love those who made it, who are now late in life, to benefit financially if at all possible – and to have the music they made heard again.
Hear, hear.
Great work, @Colin-H. I really think what you’re doing is fantastic.
If I had the ear of King Charles, I would be vigorously campaigning for your efforts to be recognised with an appropriate honour. You deserve a peerage at very least.
Arise Sir Colin of Afterwordia!
I don’t think that’s far-fetched.
@colin-h I’m sure you must have heard that Bill Leader died today.
I did.
Look upon his works and wonder…
https://www.idealmusique.com/2013/01/bill-leader-discography.html
@colin-h
Do we have any idea of what unavailable treasures exist in the Transatlantic back catalogue?
Back in the day that was one of the labels usually signifying – to me at least – that the contents of an LP would be well worth investigating.
Discogs is your friend here, I reckon: https://www.discogs.com/label/40740-Transatlantic-Records?page=1