Fifty years ago it was the end of 1963. The Beatles were about to come to America and kick off the "British Invasion" that would eventually bring the Stones, the Who, Zeppelin, the Kinks, and Pink Floyd along too, to join the likes of Hendrix, Bob Dylan, and the Dead and make the 1960s one of the best musical eras ever.Five decades later, thanks to the particulars of European copyright law, it's a good time to be a '60s music fan (and really, who isn't?). This week 59 previously unreleased Beatles songs went on sale on iTunes, a treasure trove that includes hours of outtakes, early BBC recordings, and bootlegged tracks that have been circulating under the radar for years. It’s a nice treat for hardcore fans of the Fab Four who’ll relish the chance to hear new versions of screaming fans and John and Paul’s banter, and it's probably not the last time labels will drop scarce tracks to dodge copyright expiration dates. It also reveals the recording industry’s power to wield intellectual property law like a magic profit wand.A couple years back, record labels across the pond realized that the 50-year copyright protection on the UK's '60s superstars was about to expire—an era one trade group called "an exceptional period of British musical genius." So with Paul McCartney and Cliff Richard leading the charge, the industry successfully campaigned to extend intellectual property protection to now last 70 years after a recording’s release—the operative word being “release.” As a result of the change, labels are now scrambling to issue hitherto unreleased rarities, and hence the sudden availability of the "new" Beatles tracks whose copyright protection would otherwise have expired on January 1.This case of copyright law forcing labels' hand isn't exclusive to Apple Corps, the studio that holds the rights to the Beatles music empire. The same thing happened earlier this year when Sony rushed to put out a limited-edition album of 86 unreleased Bob Dylan gems in Europe, including early TV performances and unheard versions of “Blowin' in the Wind” and other hits. Motown, too, has been dropping rare recordings of its artists on iTunes, under the "Motown Unreleased" banner. And while Apple has declined to comment on why they made The Beatles Bootleg Recordings 1963 available only now, Sony made no attempt to cover up its true motives, subtitling the new Dylan album, The Copyright Extension Collection Vol 1.Is it a sign of a future trend? That every year we'll get a new release of obscure tracks dug up from the archives of record labels trying to squeeze out every last penny from their lucrative artists? Could be—which is cool for fans desperate to get their hands on higher quality versions of bootleg songs that have devolved into copies of copies of copies over the decades. Plus, the music's just going to get better. Early live performances of "Love Me Do" are cool and all, but in 1963 the Beatles had barely broken out of the Liverpool club scene and were still restricted to songs with three chords in the key of C. Think what happened next. Fans are still holding out for the release of gems such as the famed 28-minute version of “Helter Skelter” recorded in 1968. Who knows what else the labels are sitting on.On the other hand, it’s a small perk that hardly makes up for the flagrant gaming of the copyright system by a desperate music industry. For one, the move keeps works out of the public domain for longer. Artists are worried this would result in their biggest hits being relegated to TV commercials. Labels are worried anyone with a bootlegged MP3 can suddenly go into business selling cheap DIY albums for a quick buck.But for the rest of us—the fans—it just delays free access to music that’s already had its fair run of money-making. And some excellent compilations and creative mixes have grown out of songs now in the public domain. After all, the point of copyright law is to encourage artists to create, not to let pop stars cool their heels and count their royalties into the grave.@meghanneal
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