Independent Blackpool EP

Blackpool 1965 concert by Rockwell Publishing

The official Beatles releases this year may have been postponed to 2021, but the small, independent record companies here in Europe continue to exploit the recordings that have fallen out of copyright. After not having been released before the 50 year mark of the original recording, they are fair game for anyone to release here in Europe, it seems. From Rockwell Publishing, this EP presents a concert from Blackpool, 1965, “produced under European copyright regulations”. But hang on a minute: Weren’t most of these concert recordings released on The Beatles’ Anthology Volume 2 back in 1996? So shouldn’t they then be protected by copyright for another twenty years after the original 50 years expiration date? At least, that has been our understanding. The tracks on this 33 1/3 rpm EP are

Side A:

I Feel Fine (released on Anthology 2)

I’m Down

Act Naturally

Side B:

Ticket To Ride  (released on Anthology 2)

Yesterday (released on Anthology 2)

Help! (released on Anthology 2)

So how come Universal or Apple Corps aren’t taking action against these widely advertised limited edition releases? Could it be that since USA is their biggest market, they can’t really be bothered about the European bootleg market? And yet, last year’s album from the company “London Calling” of both the 1964 and the 1965 televised Beatles concert performances from Blackpool has also appeared on Amazon in USA.

LP from both televised Blackpool performances