According to this BBC report, the British Phonographic Industry along with the singer Cliff Richard are close to losing their fight to have the copyright period of sound recordings extended from the present 50 years to 95 years.  This comes after an independent review commissioned by the Treasury recommending that the current term of 50 years is sufficient.  On the other hand, composers and their families retain copyright over musical scores for 70 years after the author's death. 

If the current copyright period stays as it is, this will mean that Cliff's big hit "Move It" will lose its copyright in 2008, followed by the first official recordings of The Beatles in 2013.  As a result, this will be a potential issue for artists who make their living from royalties on recordings approaching 50 years of age.

Despite all the years of music composed between the 1950's and now, in my opinion music from the 1960's to the 1980's seems to be best of the music.  From my experience one is more likely to pop on a CD containing hits of some year of the 80's than they are to pull out a hits CD from any of the past couple of years.

Thanks to GristyMcFisty for letting us know about this news.  Gristy added:  "You can make a record in 1955 and have been getting royalties... been living on that and suddenly they're gone." - then get a real job like everyone else you lazy tosser!