For decades the industry has struggled with interpreting the pre 1972 copyright laws on recordings.  Due to complicated state copyright laws which directly contradict or confuse federal law, the music industry (artists on one side and labels/publishers on the other, naturally) have been battling over the rights in sound recordings.  The issue has been coming to the forefront as many extremely popular works recorded prior to 1972 are up for recapture (See our articles on Recapturing here). 

In a remarkable act of sanity by Washington, Congressman Jared Polis (NY) has introduced new legislation that aims to simplify, clarify and end speculation as to the true meaning of the US Copyright laws as they relate to sound recordings.  The Sound Recording Simplification Act (HR 2933) is not wordy or complicated (yet).  Rather it seeks to completely federalize all copyright laws thereby eliminating the existing confusion and contradiction created by conflicting state copyright laws.

The passage of this Act would help to eliminate a hurdle in songwriters recapturing their rights by eliminating the labels/publishers creative arguments of conflicting copyright statutes.  Stay tuned to watch the progress of the Act.