NPR had a thoughtful overview last night on the challenge of hearing or distributing even fairly recent American recorded music. According to a study by the Library of Congress discussed in the story, "over 70 percent of American music recorded before 1965 is not legally available in the United States." Through issues of copyright clearance and lack of a commercial market, these recorded works are unlikely to enter the commercial market again, and unable to enter a noncommercial market either.
Half of the challenge is fairly obvious, and common to the nonprofit world, as well: there’s a ton of content, and only a narrow pipe to shove it through. Because recordings take time, energy, and money to re-release, companies are picky about what they spend their time on. The same could be said of other audio heritage distribution channels like symphonies, chamber groups, jazz ensembles, or rock bands. There are only so many groups, who perform only so many times each year. Simple math will show why the bulk of composed works will never be heard again.
The other half of the challenge is copyright…the fact that a recorded work contains a bundle of owners that have a say and an interest in whether or not a recording is reproduced. Someone owns the music, someone owns the performance that was recorded, someone owns the master recording. For works recorded before 1972, that bundle of rights can be an endless maze with no way through (if you’re particularly interested in navigating that maze, see the Library of Congress report from last month).
Arts organizations are often in the business of stewarding and making accessible great creative works of recent and distant history. It’s sad to think that such a vast collection of our country’s cultural past may be forever out of our reach.