Orphan Songs Caught in Bottleneck
"In late 1946, glamorous Savannah Churchill, the Alicia Keys of her day, recorded the ballad "I Want to Be Loved (But Only by You)" for Manor Records, a New Jersey-based independent label.
"Other such Manor releases as Deek Watson & his Brown Dots’ reading of ‘(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons’ — later a hit for Nat ‘King’ Cole and Sam Cooke — also clicked with the record-buying public.
"But 58 years later, Manor Records is a mystery. Music historians say anyone who wants permission to reissue those discs will find that the paper trail to the ownership of Manor has disappeared. The Manor discs, in other words, are ‘orphan works.’"
Bill Holland. Copyright Office Seeks Authors of ‘Orphan Songs’. Reuters. May 6, 2005.
See also:
Glushko Samuelson Intellectual Property Law Clinic Response to Notice of Inquiry on the Issue of "Orphan Works". (.pdf) March 24, 2005.
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