LONDON, Sept. 25 (UPI) -- Britain's Sound Archive is facing the loss of a significant portion of its music collection due to stringent copyright laws and obsolete recording formats.
The British Library has been unable to begin transferring audio from obsolete formats to modern digital recordings because of prevailing copyright laws and that could ultimately end access to a portion of the archive's collected recordings, the BBC reported.
"Currently the law does not permit copying of sound and film items for preservation," said the British Library. "Without the right to make copies, the UK is losing a large part of its recorded culture."
"Many original audio and film formats we hold are becoming increasingly more fragile," the statement continued, adding that such formats could "face irretrievable decay."
The organization's concerns are in part based on singer Sir Richard Cliff's recent request to extend music copyrights beyond the current 50-year limit, a concept that the British Library claims would limit possible music conservation, the BBC said.
