…and that’s the number of copies that the LiveFeed-restored DVD Project (“Elvis Presley – The Ed Sullivan Shows” has sold in its first 3 months of release.  Hooray for our side!!

That little news-nugget is contained in an interesting article from today’s “New York Times”.  You can read the full article here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/12/technology/12video.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

As you might guess, however, there are ramifications concerning the larger issues raised by this article for all of us that are fans of classic television— with the additional layer (and expense) of record label clearance to contend with, there remains less and less of a chance that many variety shows from the 50s and 60s will ever see legitimate release.

With the system that is currently in place, before a musical clip can be legitimately cleared for release, a producer has to clear (read: pay for):

a)      The use of the performer’s likeness, through their representatives or their estate,

b)      The performance fee for the performer,

c)      Union fees for the performing musicians

d)      The publishing rights to the song being performed,

e)      The approval of the performer’s record label, if the performance is live and performer’s live recording rights were assigned to the label, OR

f)        The performer’s record label, for master recording rights if the performance is lip-synched.

g)      And of course, footage licensing fees to the company that owns the show.

For those few remaining folks that may want to insist that TV programs are “Public Domain”, just because they’re old… I think the somewhat eye-opening list above should be a little food for thought.

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