Sarah discusses copyright protection with Billy Bragg

3.54.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 27th Apr 2009

Sarah with Billy Bragg (Photo credit: Photo European Parliament)

Sarah Ludford discussed with Billy Bragg at a lunch meeting in Strasbourg the question of length of copyright protection for performers on which MEPs voted the following day.

Sarah said "I was not persuaded that MEPs really knew enough about the impact of extending protection on sound recordings, so I voted against the report to extend it from 50 to 70 years (less than the 95 proposed by the European Commission) as I felt that we did not need to rush through legislation on such a complicated subject. While of course I appreciate that there are some modestly remunerated performers for who the ability to receive payments into their old age represents timely justice, I fear that in other cases we may just be increasing the coffers of record companies and rockstars who hardly need the money, while possibly making life more difficult for those who just want to use a song, maybe even in a charity event."