Fair play for musicians is a full-page advertisement that was published on 7 December 2006 in the Financial Times newspaper calling on the UK Government to extend the existing 50 years copyright protection for sound recordings in the United Kingdom.[1] It consisted of around 4,500 names in small print filling the full page and its style was consistent with other newspaper petitions.[2] The text "fair play for musicians" appeared in large red type over the list of names. In the centre of the page a box contained the text:
At the bottom of the page the following text appeared:
The 'fair play for musicians' advertisement was viewed as a direct response to the Gowers Review published by the British Government on 6 December 2006 which recommended the retention of the 50 year protection for sound recordings.[3] The advertisement was organised by Phonographic Performance Limited as another element of their campaign for retrospective copyright term extension.[4]
The advertisement was controversial as it was seen as another step in a protracted campaign to influence British Government policy, and gave rise to worldwide media coverage,[5][6][7][8] which was unusual for issues of copyright term policy.[9] The advertisement's inclusions of a number of deceased musicians raised suspicions that it was not a genuine representation of the wishes of the musicians listed.[10] Prominent law professor Lawrence Lessig criticised the advertisement for being misleading and declared the date of its publication, December 7, was "a date which will live in infamy."[11] The date is the same as Pearl Harbor attack and Lessig was alluding to Franklin Delano Roosevelt's famous statement.