When music is good … the agreements are quickly. Internet Archive has concluded an agreement with Universal Music Group and other large record companies, ending a very publicized battle around copyright on the efforts of the non -profit organization to digitize and disseminate historical musical recordings.
As a reminder, the Internet disputes file for the records of Universal, Sony and Capitol focused on the “Project 78 Gran 78”, which aimed to digitize and put 78 rounds free discs since the beginning of the 20th century. For the digital library, it was a cultural preservation project, while the elders saw it as a shameless violation of copyright, assimilated to a “pirate disc tent.” They also claimed up to $ 621 million in damages.
With the support of hundreds of artists, the Internet file has always defended their educational and patrimonial mission. But in the face of uncompromising courts on copyright, the organization had to compose. According to Rolling Stone, lawyers in the two camps finally deposited a joint notification on September 15 in the California district court, confirming that “the case is resolved.”
The terms have not yet been completed and should lead to the presentation of a application for inadmissibility within 45 days. In his blog, the Internet file simply indicated that “the parties have reached a confidential agreement on all requests and will no longer make any public statement on this issue.”
“Save the musical memory”
With the “78 Great 78” Project, the non -profit organization begged the protection of a fragile heritage: 78 LAP albums threatened with the disappearance, made accessible to future generations thanks to digitalization. But the labels recalled that more than 4,000 worried titles, from Frank Sinatra to Billie Holiday, remained protected and marketed, and could not spread freely.
Based in San Francisco, at least physically, Internet Archive is presented as a digital library aimed at “providing universal access to all knowledge.” In addition to its collections of websites, books and recordings, the organization said that the digitalization of the 78 laps guaranteed “the survival of these cultural documents so that future generations can study them and take advantage of them.” His struggle illustrates an unresolved dilemma: how to reconcile the preservation of cultural memory and the interests of the beneficiaries.
Source: BFM TV
