Sound property? Investigating the legal status of sound recordings May 28, 2009

This conference proposes to investigate the current US and UK statutes that regulate the protection of sound recordings.

It will inquire to what degree those laws secure the rights of both the owners and creators of the music contained on these products as well as determine their impact upon those who consume and comment upon this material.

The pending efforts to universalise an extended term of copyright underscore the potential for even more draconian controls upon recorded music.

Will the public, creators, and commentators continue to be able to acquire, appreciate and appropriate musical materials?

Can some balance be found between the need for profit and the pursuit of pleasure?

Is it possible in a civil society for music effectively to be silenced through constraints over its recorded legacy?

Keynote speakers include:

Nicholas Cook, Royal Holloway-University of London. Author of Music: A Very Short Introduction and Director, Centre for the History & Analysis of Recorded Music

Simon Frith, University of Edinburgh. Author of Taking Popular Music Seriously; Sound Effects; Editor, Music & Copyright

Charles McGovern, College of William and Mary. Author of Sold American: Consumption and Citizenship 1930-1945; Only in America: Race, Citizenship and Popular Music: 1980-1997, (forthcoming).

Kembrew McLeod, University of Iowa. Author of Freedom of Expression: Resistance and Repression in the Age of Intellectual Property; Owning Culture: Ownership, Authorship and Intellectual Property.

Official Website: http://www.salford.ac.uk/events/details/932