'Livin' Doll' and 'The Twist' are just a couple of the great hits from the Sixties that will be affected. The authors are protected by copyright for decades after their deaths. But that does not apply to the people who played the music. People like Buddy Savitt, who plays the saxophone in 'The Twist'. Or Cliff Richard, who sang 'Livin' Doll' but did not write it.

Only source of income

They do receive royalties if their songs are played on the radio. But the royalties stop after 50 years. Which for many is going to happen very soon.

Peter Koelewiijn"Back then you never thought about it," says Dutch rock veteran Peter Koelewijn, whose 'Kom van het dak af' was covered in Swedish by Egon Kjerrman.

"I remember getting my very first contract with Phonogram. The manager told me: Peter, you should sign up with us, otherwise you will miss out on a pension! But when you are 25, 26, that's the last thing on your mind. Now things are different. I've been drawing a state pension for the last three years."

Photo: Peter Koelewijn in 1963, photographer unknown, via Holland Rocks

Campaign

In 1965, Who lead singer Roger Daltrey sang the words "I hope I die before I get old" in 'My Generation'. This year he will reach pension age.

Together with Cliff Richard, Daltrey has been campaigning recently to extend the copyright on music recordings.

The British government didn't listen, but European Commissioner for Internal Markets Charlie McCreevy did. Last year he suggested almost doubling the length of time copyright applies from 50 to 95 years.                           

Starvation

Peter Koelewijn thinks Mr McCreevy got it wrong.

"If you take one euro in royalties, then 50 cents goes to the record company. I once made a record with a whole orchestra. That is a total of 30 people. If one of the violists earns one eurocent it's a lot. So if that is his pension, he'll soon die of starvation."The average session musician receives between €0.26 and €26.79 in royalties a year. Only the big names like Cliff Richard get more, because they sang lots of songs, which are still being played.

But it's the record companies which are making the most money out of royalties. They'll earn an extra 150 million euros from an extension of the copyright, which will make up for their  rapidly shrinking income from music sales.

Scandal

"I do have sympathy with the record companies," says an angry Peter Koelewijn, "but not that much sympathy."

"I still think the distribution of income from copyright is scandalous. I would have liked the record companies to change the percentages at a much earlier stage, so that artists and musicians could start building up a pension from their royalties much earlier."In spite of protests from parties like the Green Left, the European Parliament agreed to an extension of copyright on music recordings this week. MEPs did tone down the original McCreevy plan, by extending copyright to 70 years and not the proposed 95.

Egon Kjerrman

Peter Koelewijn has nothing to worry about. As author of his own songs he is protected. And to prevent record companies running off with the profits, he has got everything down in writing.

But things look less good for Egon Kjerrman. After 'Kom ner från taket!' and a couple of film roles in the 1960s he spent most of his career in a Swedish army band. He died in 2007.

Perro de Jong
Radio Netherlands