In a move welcomed by the IFPI - they represent the recording industry worldwide, for the laymans out there -  a report issued today by the UK's Parliamentary Culture, Media and Sports Committee has recommended extending the copyright term for recording artists to 70 years. It has asked the government to press the European Commision into brining forward proposals to ensure artists can be reasonably sure copyrights will last their entire lifetime.

At the moment, the UK has a 50 year copyright period, which lags behind that of USA by some considerable margin. John Kennedy, CEO of the IFPI said: "The select committee has given a ringing endorsement for fair treatment of the UK music industry...and that Britain must not be left with weaker copyright protection that its international partners".

The committe also said that ISPs and search-based business should be doing more to try to discourage illegal downloading and piracy. Of course, they didn't give any strong recommendations about exactly what they want them to do, just that they should jolly well get on and start doing something. So no change there then.