In a sense, we are talking about copies here.   The original recordings, although out of print in many cases, have not been destroyed.    While I would love to have re-mastered CD copies, the originals are not gone forever - just harder to find.

Here in the U.S., there are hundreds of vinyl LP's from the 50's through the 80's that are long out of print. The masters may be missing, or the rights are tied up by corporations. It would be wonderful to have access to everything, and in many cases the issues that have been mentioned about UK artists would apply to US artists as well. I know several artists who recorded albums for Folkways that do not make a penny when the Smithsonian sells a copy from their catalog.   A few years ago I spoke to the son of a now deceased folksinger who also would have benefited from access to the recordings his father made. Unfortunately, the legal issues prevented the family from touching them.

On a good note, I received word that the re-release of the old Traditions Record label will continue, through a new record label. Last year saw the release of several classic recordings - from artists such as A.L. Loyd, Ewan MacColl, Ed McCurdy, Jean Ritchie and others.   I understand that even in those cases, the rights were signed away when the original recordings were made, but the record label has attempted to offer some compensation to the original artists.

By the way, this new record label also owns the rights to the old Esoteric label, and if successful perhaps we will finally see more of these classic recordings re-issued.   Based on the previous reissues with the other company, they did a fine job of remastering to preserve the originals, and they kept the artwork, liner notes and some updates to make a very nice and affordable package.