Attention Dylanologists...Spin CDs has just listed a new release called "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan Outakes" which appears to be a compliation of all the tracks recorded for Dylan's second album. There are indeed about 20+ songs listed, though I haven't cross-referenced it with Clinton Heylin's book yet to see how complete the list is. Spin CDs doesn't appear to deal in bootlegs, so it must be some sort of grey market release, but it beats me what legal standing there is for releasing this. Is it a 50 year copyright rule expiration situation (I read somewhere that with a 50 year copyright expiration all sorts of things..the Beatles recordings for example,might actually fall into public domain during this decade), has Sony Europe gone rogue or is it something else? Any ideas out there?

Unless they've changed the law (& there was talk of doing so due to the Fabs) the EU does have a 50 year copyright limit. Though I haven't seen any spin offs of the Vee-Jay Beatles yet. Not sure if those were '62 or '63?

There's been a handful of grey-area Dylan releases in the UK for the past couple of years or so. As far as I know, the UK law has not changed due to lobbying from parties such as Sir Paul, the Elvis estate, or the Dylan camp. Copyrights of recordings still expire in the UK after 50 years.

Certain "Freehweelin'" outtakes have circulated for decades, I would wager that the music on this Dylan disc was taken from prior bootlegs, and not from any master tapes.

This article is from September 2011 and suggests the copyright limit will be extended in the EU to 70 years 'by' 2014, so it could still be 50 years at present.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/se ... -extension

Newsflash! very interesting development:

From http://expectingrain.com

Bob Dylan - The 50th Anniversary Collection / The Copyright Extension Collection Vol. I Sony Music has released an extremely limited European only 4cd set of outtakes from 1962 & 1963. The album is sold only through selected stores in England, Germany, France & Sweden. The set is limited to probably no more than a hundred copies. The release is triggered by European copyright laws which would pass these recordings onto public domain unless Sony claims ownership by releasing it it one way or another. Scans of Cover and Tracklist. from åke Jonsson. Available digitally as well but only via BobDylan.com in France and Germany. from Jeffrey Schulberg

http://www.myplaydirect.com/bobdylan/50 ... s/27918122

SO, AS IT TURNS OUT...
THE PAGE YOU WERE LOOKING FOR CANNOT BE FOUND.

Go to France on the drop-down list, then 'albums'

The most recent articles I found were from autumn of 2011, but with no indication that the law has, in fact, been changed.

I'm not exactly thrilled about this--I understand the idea that Sony has been coerced into releasing this music with the idea that it will pretect its copyrights (a gambit that might not work) but this only hurts the longtime collectors who (1) have made an effort to collect official product and shy away from bootlegs and (2) are essentially shut out from acquiring these recordings, even as a download, if they live in the U.S.

If you go to either France or Germany in the drop-dow list and then to albums it should still be there

Amazon.uk seems to be listing several of grey-area Dylan titles to be released next month.

Again, my biggest concern as a music collector is merely identifying what material is official, what material is bootleg, and what material is grey-area. One goal I have for 2013 is to become considerably more versed in international copyright law. I

Sneaky, sneaky Sony...if true. I've heard of this dodge of doing some sort of limited release to extend rights before, but it was in film, not music (i.e. seen Roger Corman's Fantastic Four or Dimension's 2011/12 Hellraiser reboot...I didn't think so, but they exist). Sony is missing the boat though. The material will get dispensed through the Internet regardless, once somebody gets a copy of it, so why not go ahead and put out a respectable run (10,000 - 20,000 copies) so some of us can get a copy legally.

Some say that this a way for the labels to avoid the loss to copyright expiration (50 years is what's been said).

Get something out there (in a extremely limited quantity) for renewal whch gives them time for a "proper" reissue.
Interesting theory.

Rick A.

Another question I have is whether or not this gambit of Sony will work--it seems like a fair method of claiming a copyright, but I don't know as it is one that has ever really been tested in this manner.

There are those in the UK and in Europe who seem to feel that a fifty year copyright for sound recordings is more than adequate, and the Elvis Presley camp seems to have largely given up the fight.

What I can't help but notice is that the "packaging" for this title seems relatively easy to replicate--four CD-r's, a list of tracks, and not much else. Did Sony stop to think about whether or not this set might be subject to counterfeiting? I (mostly) stopped collecting CD-r remix promos when labels began issuing them on recordable discs because it became just too difficult to determine from an Ebay listing whether or not a particular copy actually came from a record label.

That said, I would imagine that Sony's lawyers are keeping a close eye on the torrent sites, taking note of any and all IP addresses seeding this title.

Still...once again, Dylan is leading the way: the first boxed set, the first $100+ "deluxe" boxed set, and now, the first "copyright extension" set. If this works, tiny record stores in Denmark and Stockholm should enjoy brisk business in coming years.

My understanding is that European Union copyright law has not yet changed. In 2011 the EU Council of Ministers approved an extension (from 50 to 70 years) but member nations have not yet implemented it. I can't find any information about when the new law might take effect, but it apparently hasn't yet. When it does take effect, it will not be retroactive, so material that has already passed into public domain via the 50 year law will not go back under copyright.

The reason for this release is that under present law, copyright expires 50 years from the time of first release, but if a recording is unreleased it's 50 years from the time of recording. By releasing unreleased 49-year-old outtakes for the first time now, Sony gains copyright on them for 50 years from now. The actual original Freewheelin' album will still pass into public domain next May (unless the new copyright laws take effect before then).

I wonder if one of the reasons this is a EU-only release is Dylan himself. I know Dylan has final veto power over any releases in the US, but it's possible that doesn't extend to overseas releases (it's notable that Dylan, the 1973 album released without his approval is in print overseas but has never been released on CD in the US). It may be that Dylan doesn't want this stuff released but can't stop Sony from doing it overseas.

That's the thing--the talk of a new law extending this 50-year period seems to be just that, as I cannot find anything indicating that the law has changed or is due to bechanged. I have to wonder if the often stated presumption that Sir Paul will step in, snap his fingers, and change the law is merely the hysterical talking points of unrestricted file-sharing proponents--remember how the passage of SOPA was all but inevitable, given the corruption of Congress by all of those evil corporations?

As for Dylan himself...theories abound. Some say that he has little to no input on the archival releases, mostly out of disinterest (supposedly Scorcese put together the "No Direction Home" documentary without ever actually meeting Dylan) although he almost has certainly has veto power. It woulld be a fair observation that he is more interested in live performance than studio recording, and his catalog has been very carefully managed in recent years, suggesting professional marketing savvy rather than any perfectionist artistic impulses. The "Dylan" album is a pretty good example--for a while there it could be purchased on iTunes in the US. But I'm personally doubtful that Sony would ever release anything against Dylan's express wishes, even if they have the right to do so contractually.

In the context of expiring copyrights, the timing of the "Witmark Demos" last year also makes a lot more sense.

Financially the small press runs you're talking about make no sense for a major like Sony. Most of the cost is incurred in mastering, not pressing which has gotten dirt cheap.

All the articles I can find say the new law has been approved by the EU Council of Ministers, so it definitely will be changing. The ambiguity centers around when the member nations need to implement it, or whether they have yet or not.

Someone over at hoffman posted that the new law only extends copyright on released recordings to 70 years. The copyright for unreleased recordings remains 50 years from the time of recording. That means these Dylan outtakes would have become public domain even if the new law were in effect. Maybe it is in effect for all we know.

It makes sense--a reasonable scenario has Sony waiting until the last minute hoping that the law changes, then issuing this title as something of a "Hail Mary" pass after running out of all other alternatives. I know I used the phrase "marketing savvy" earlier to describe the people behind the Dylan catalog, but the more I think about it, this release seems like more of a move out of desperation than anything else. Even if I had the money, I certainly wouldn't pay a thousand bucks on Ebay for four CD-r's...unless, of couse, I thought I could turn that thousand dollar investment into a whole stack of identical CD-r's.

See the Frank Zappa offer very similar to what you describe in one of Robert's threads!

And the plot thickens. Spin CD just posted a listing for a second Dylan disc..."Folk-Singer: Humdinger", which appears to be a two disc compilation of all the extant material surrounding Bob Dylan's first CD...both the studio cuts as well as other archival material. So, if this is the start of the 50 year copyright war, the test case appears to be settling around the Dylan catalog. I wish one of the music journals out there, Mojo being the best candidate I can think of, would put out an article explaining what is going on. Or Clinton Heylin, if you're out there, care to weigh in?

That title is up for pre-order at Amazon UK:



http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00AAQ85BU/?tag=imwan-21

Again, there's been a number of grey-area UK releases of this type of early Dylan stuff in the past couple of years. All of this stuff comes from bootlegs. The 4-disc set just released by Sony, however, apparently includes stuff not previously bootlegged.

It is noteworthy that this occurred during a timeframe when no mainstream media source (mainstream enough to pop up in a Google news search) has apparently been able to report on the release. (Not even NME.com!)