The extension of copyright protection to the life of the author and 50 years after his death is long overdue. For the serious composer it is particularly signficant. It is a historical fact that the musical public is slow to accept new forms and styles. Musicology is full of examples where today's masterpieces were booed and hissed-or just plain ignored at their first performances. For this reason the old copyright law has always worked against the reasonable interests of the serious composer. Suppose in his early twenties he copyrights a symphony. The work does not immediately attract attention. But 50 years later it is played extensively. So the composer in his old age starts getting income from a work of his youth, only to see that income suddenly disappear, no doubt at the time when he needs it the

most.

The life-and-50-years provision is operating satisfactorily in many other countries. There is nothing experimental about it. It will both assure the composer a lifetime royalty income and satisfy his human aspiration to leave a tangible estate for his heirs.

I am informed that some organizations interested in educational broadcasting intend to urge that all performances by educational broadcasting stations of nondramatic literary and musical works should be exempt from copyright liability. The bills already exempt such performances if the transmission is made primarily for reception in classrooms or similar places normally devoted to instruction and is a regular part of the systematic instructional activities of a nonprofit educational broadcasting station. I am distressed that anyone should wish to go further than this and to exempt from copyright protection musical performances which are directed primarily to a broad general public.

Until a composer has attained considerable eminence, and frequently thereafter, just such broadcasts will form a large percentage-possibly the total of all his broadcast performances. Why should the composer, who is so often at the bottom of the economic ladder and whose creative work is the raison d'etre of the broadcast, be deprived by law of his royalty? The utility company which furnishes the power to transmit the broadcast is not asked to make any sacrifice. The American Composers Alliance has felt so strongly about this that for many years it has paid its members reduced scale royalties for nonprofit broadcasts even though it derives no revenue from such broadcasts. I trust that the Congress will not permit any such exemption. The bill before you constitutes a genuine improvement over the present copyright law. It will not bring self-sufficiency to the serious composer, but it will be a step in the right direction. I hope for your thoughtful consideration.

Mr. KASTENMEIER. Thank you, Mr. Claflin.

It is sometimes stated or alleged that what appears on educational television or what is otherwise protected by copyright and is used in an educational context is really a promotion for the composer or for his work and that the composer should be grateful for it to be so used because it creates an appetite for and a recognition of his work and ultimately accrues to his financial benefit.

Do you have any comment on that?

Mr. CLAFLIN. The figures bear that out so slowly that you don't really see it. So many of these composers, whose styles are advanced for the public today, get these performances on the good music stations, the nonprofit stations, and that is just about all they get.

The commercial stations couldn't care less. In making our logs of performances to pay royalties, we separate what comes from commercial stations and from noncommercial stations, so we know very accurately how little comes from commercial stations.

The number of broadcasts they get on the noncommercials does not. seem to affect that very much. It would be a very slow process. Maybe in 50 years there would be a difference, but in that case it probably would have happened anyway.

Mr. KASTENMEIER. Mr. St. Onge?

Mr. ST. ONGE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Claflin, what is the source of revenue for your organization? You mentioned paying royalties.

Mr. CLAFLIN. We assign all our broadcast performance rights to BMI under a contract of 2 or 3 years in return for lump-sum payments which we can then dispose of any way we want. We are perfectly free to handle it the way we want to.

So after our expenses we pay so much for royalties, and we do some other things to promote our members by issuing a bulletin quarterly,, by sponsoring concerts, and by contributing to recordings.

Mr. ST. ONGE. And even to paying reduced scale royalties for nonprofit broadcasts.

Mr. CLAFLIN. That is right.

Mr. ST. ONGE. Thank you.

Mr. KASTENMEIER. Mr. Edwards?

Mr. EDWARDS. Mr. Claflin, how do the composers of serious music do in Western Europe?

Mr. CLAFLIN. I wish I could tell you from firsthand information. I really don't have enough to tell you. Maybe Dr. Sessions would know more on that. I don't know.

Mr. EDWARDS. I just wondered if the educational stations there pay royalties.

Mr. CLAFLIN. I don't know what the situation is.

Mr. EDWARDS. But an educational station in New York, shall we say, where the music of a serious composer is performed, does not pay a royalty, is that correct?

Mr. CLAFLIN. No royalty is paid.

Mr. EDWARDS. Thank you.

Mr. KASTENMEIER. Mr. Tenzer?

Mr. TENZER. No questions.

Mr. KASTENMEIER. Mr. Hutchinson?

Mr. HUTCHINSON. No questions.

Mr. KASTEN MEIER. Thank you again for appearing here today.
Mr. CLAFLIN. Thank you.

Mr. KASTEN MEIER. At this time the last group of witnesses representing the American Guild of Authors & Composers will be Messrs. Burton Lane, Will Dillon, and Leon Kellman.

STATEMENTS OF BURTON LANE, PRESIDENT; WILL DILLON AND LEON KELLMAN, AMERICAN GUILD OF AUTHORS & COMPOSERS

Mr. KASTENMEIER. I know Mr. Dillon's Congressman wants to introduce Mr. Dillon to the committee.

Mr. KELLMAN. Mr. Chairman, we thought Mr. Dillon would speak first.

Mr. KASTENMEIER. At this point, Mr. Dillon, our distinguished colleague, Howard Robison, of New York, is here. At this time we will call on our colleague.

Mr. ROBISON. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and members of the subcommittee.

I did wish to be here to present to you, sir, and to the members of the subcommittee, a very beloved citizen of Ithaca, N.Y., in my congressional district, a very distinguished songwriter and composer in his own right, and now 87 years old. His best-known work, one which all of us know and have loved, and one which every barbershop quartet that has ever been organized has surely sung on numerous occasions, is the song "I Want a Girl Just Like the Girl That Married Dear Old Dad"-Mr. Will Dillon.

Mr. KASTEN MEIER. We are indebted to you for your introduction. Mr. DILLON. I am William Dillon. I live at the Reconstruction Home in Ithaca, N.Y. I am 87 years old. I won't be able to stay on my feet as the last time. I last appeared before this honorable committee when I was much younger 6 years ago. At that time, I recalled a song I wrote with Harry Lauder. You all know Harry Lauder. It never did pay me very much, but it became one of Winston Churchill's favorites and some of you recall it.

As a matter of fact, he quoted when he came here to visit our country after the Second World War:

Keep right on to the end of the road. keep right on to the end, though the way be long, let your heart be strong, keep right on around the bend.

After 70 years as a songwriter, that is still my creed. My copyright from such songs as "Every Little Bit Added to What You've Got Makes Just a Little Bit More" and "I Want a Girl Just Like the Girl That Married Dear Old Dad" will expire, but I shall keep right on to the end of the road to see that they don't.

I am quite confident that this committee will act favorably on H.R. 4347. One of my grandchildren is here. Her father made the supreme sacrifice for his country and rests as a hero in Arlington Cemetery. I hope that by enacting H.R. 4347 you will enable me to leave the fruits of my labor to those whom he would have provided for in the first place.

If my songs are played on jukeboxes, as many of them have been and will be some time again, I have hundreds of them, I hope some small part of what the public pays will go to those whom the writer holds dear.

I have prepared a formal statement for this committee, but I hope you will permit me to have my granddaughter read it, Georgia Ann Murdock. To read a small portion will only take a short time. May I present to you Miss Murdock.

Mr. KASTENMEIER. Mr. Dillon, you will now have your granddaughter make a presentation at this point. She may proceed.

Miss MURDOCK. I wish to thank the members of this committee for permitting me to read the following statement of my grandfather:

I am a charter member of ASCAP, which was founded in 1914. I am also a charter member of the American Guild of Authors & Composers, which was founded in 1931.

I appear today to ask that you act favorably upon H.R. 4347 so that the men and women who write our Nation's songs may receive compensation for the public performance of their copyrighted music upon jukeboxes. I also have a more personal interest in this bill. One of my compositions which is still performed, "Every Little Bit Added to What You've Got Makes Just a Little Bit More," was copyrighted in 1907.

The copyright would have expired in 1963 but for the temporary extension of copyrights. I hope and trust that there will be a further extension pending action on H.R. 4347.

Another composition, "I Want a Girl, Just Like the Girl That Married Dear Old Dad," which I wrote with Harry von Tilzer 54 years ago, will no longer be my property in 2 years unless H.R. 4347 or another temporary extension of copyright is enacted in the meantime.

That one song accounts for over 90 percent of all my royalties, the primary source of my support. I have written over 1,000 songs since my first published song in 1895, "Put Me Off at Buffalo." Only a few of these have survived the ravages of time and changes in public taste.

In addition to the two I have mentioned, this committee may also be familiar with "Me and My Uncle Sam" which won first place in the National War Song Contest in 1941.

I wish to remind this committee again of the fact that the copyright term in this country is of short duration. The bill H.R. 4347 would extend existing copyrights so that they would continue for 75 years from the date of copyright instead of 56 years. Section 304 of this bill would extend the copyright of "I Want a Girl" to 1986 instead of 1967.

On a personal note, gentlemen, may I state that Mrs. Dillon and I were proud of the fact that in addition to two of our own children, we successfully raised eight other youngsters. For all the years we were able to do this, the royalties for performances of my songs which I got through ASCAP were our mainstay. On my last birthday, my 87th year, I wrote a Christmas song entitled "Take Off Those Whiskers, Daddy, Because I Know Who You Are." I am sharing the royalties of that song with one of the large youth groups in America.

I believe that a longer term of copyright will impel authors to write the kind of music that is likely to survive. I know this committee will do its best to see that we receive a reward commensurate with the use of our works. I sincerely urge passage of bill H.R. 4347. Thank you.

Mr. KASTEN MEIER. Thank you.

I think the Chair might state at this point that as a precaution. against the loss to the public domain of certain works done some 56 or 58 years ago the House Committee on the Judiciary, the full committee on Tuesday last, 2 days ago, passed House Resolution 431, which would extend the coverage for those songs that would fall in the public domain until December 31, 1967. That was in anticipation of the possibility that the Congress will not have enacted a copyright revision during this calendar year.

That is not to say that we do not hope to enact such legislation that is, a general revision bill. But in the event we do not, the House of Representatives now has a resolution which would accomplish what we did 3 years ago in protecting composers' works of that certain era. That should be good news to composers.

Thank you very much, Mr. Dillon and Miss Murdock.

Mr. Lane, you may proceed.

Mr. LANE. Mr. Chairman, I am Burton Lane, president of American Guild of Authors & Composers. We are an association having a

present membership of over 2,000 composers and lyricists. Next year, our organization is celebrating its 35th birthday.

To tell you a few words about myself: over a period of 21 years, I was engaged in the writing of many musical scores and songs for motion pictures. I have written many popular songs which are now standard compositions. I am the composer of the muscial comedy "Finian's Rainbow" and I am presently writing, with Alan Jay Lerner, a musical play called "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever," which will open in New York next fall.

Mr. Lerner, who is also a member, is well known as the librettistlyricist of "My Fair Lady" and other notable shows.

It is the purpose and function of our organization to work for and support the rights, interests, and welfare of our members in their freelance endeavors, primarily in their relations with music publishers. We have also sought to raise the standards in the music business and we are proud of the success we have had. We have established a standard uniform music publishing contract which is used by over 1,000 music publishers in acquiring songs from our members. As a royalty collection representative of our members, we collect their royalties from music publishers and we regularly audit these music publishers. We maintain a copyright renewal service to keep our members aware of the times when their renewals must be obtained, and in assisting them to obtain their renewals, so they will not be in default and see their works lose their copright protection. We act as an educational force in helping our members to understand their rights and obligations as members of their profession.

Our organization also includes widows and children of deceased songwriters who are presently the owners or beneficiaries of songs written by the deceased songwriters.

Our members are active in all fields of music. They create popular songs. They write music, lyrics, and scores of stage productions, motion pictures, and television productions; and compositions in the so-called serious music field.

Many of our members have written outstanding compositions and have made noteworthy contributions to the musical culture of our time. I will name only a few:

Hoagy Carmichael, the composer of the famous song, "Stardust." Richard Adler, co-writer of the musical comedies "The Pajama Game" and "Damn Yankees."

Howard Dietz, who with Arthur Schwartz, also a member, wrote such songs as "Dancing in the Dark" and "Something to Remember You By," and some of our most outstanding musical comedies and song hits.

Vernon Duke, who composed "April in Paris."

Duke Ellington, a noteworthy songwriter as well as a great entertainer, musician, and band leader.

Dorothy Fields, one of the greatest of our lyricists and librettists. Miss Fields, with another member, Jimmy McHugh, wrote such songs as "I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby."

E. Y. Harburg, the author of the song "Over The Rainbow" and dozens of other memorable songs. He was my collaborator on "Finian's Rainbow."