In instances like this I'm not interested in law or copyright. Like any moral person, I'm only interested in whether it could actually do any harm. No-one's proposing selling these things.

Can we safely assume that all of the hundreds of traditional singers archived in collections on the British Library website were aware that their singing would be available to "the whole world"? I very much doubt it. Yet there they are, and I'm very glad that I can access them.

Howard said: "So I don't think it can be assumed that those performers won't mind if these recordings are made public, although I suspect most won't be bothered, and many will be pleased and flattered."

Sure, we can't *assume* that literally every single person concerned would be happy about it. But if the *strong likelihood* is that most people would welcome it and we know how the internet works - any that are unhappy could always ask for them to be taken down - well I think you should go for it.