1. Mickey Mouse Blues (Child Of The Moon II), 2. Sympathy For The Devil I, 3. Family I, 4. Pay Your Dues(Street Fighting Man III), 5. Jumpin Jack Flash III, 6. Dear Doctor II, 7. Sympathy For The Devil, 8. Family II, 9. Jumpin Jack Flash VI.

This underground compilation presents some Stones outtakes that have appeared out of the blue on YouTube offering better wounding versions as well as a never heard before track, allegedly put out by Abkco. But what is the actual purpose of a copyright preservation release? Has it something to do with 2018 ending and the onset of 50 years since the tracks were recorded?
This is   a relatively new copyright law which put the expiration of the copyright at 50 years if material was not made commercially available. This technically qualifies as a commercial release and therefore the copyright is preserved. Had they not done this, this material would become public domain.

As all collectors know there is a lot more from the Beggars period around on bootleg, it is surprising that only these 4 tracks are up for copyright protection. What about outtakes like Blood Red Wine for example ? Does this mean that it s fair game and now in the public domain. It is pretty sure that ABKCO has a tape of it. Their copyright theories don t seem very well thought out.

However concerning this copyright preservation releases there is still much confusion. Under the Berne Convention Regulations, copyright is granted automatically at creation and the validity of copyright on published work is for the duration of the author s death + 70 years. The duration of copyright of unpublished work is eternal under the Berne convention, and death+70 years to a maximum of 120 years in the US. To complicate things there is also the Sonny Bono Act, which fixed a period of 95 years for anything placed under copyright from 1923 to 1977, after which the measure is not fixed, but based on when an author perishes. Copyright can also be renewed to extend the period.
It is also possible to register unpublished works and recordings without actually publishing them, but you only do this when you intend to publish them. If you want to keep it unpublished there s basically nothing you need to do.
All unpublished works by the Stones are copyrighted. No band can make a recording of a Stones outtake and publish it under the bands name and under any other credit than Jagger/Richards, as the copyright is granted at creation. The copyright to the music and copyright to a recording are two separate things. For instance Europe 1 holds the rights to the recording of a Paris 1966 Stones show recording, but ABKCO holds the copyright to the songs. The recording of the show is for 70 years after death, and the recording can only be released when all parties agree on the release, thus on how the royalties are shared.
So, how come an outtake of Child Of The Moon or Sympathy, which has full copyrights until 2100 or so when it needs renewal, need to be published? Where does the 50 years come from?

ABKCO has been making these copyright preservation releases for a few years in a row now, they make the songs available on YouTube for a while and then take them down again just to hold on to the copyright. According to EU Directive it has to be lawfully published or lawfully communicated to the public within 50 years.

Now it seems that a relatively new copyright law puts an expiration of the copyright at 50 years if material is not made commercially available so this technically qualifies as a commercial release, and therefore the copyright is preserved. Had they not done this, this material would become public domain.

For some tracks, honestly the versions that appeared on bootlegs are better. Even if they used better sources here, it seems that Pay Your Dues, Dear Doctor and the two versions of Family don t sound as good as what we have heard on bootleg. The alternate take of Sympathy For The Devil was partially included in One Plus One, but with a voiceover and so it is great to have it here in full! The two versions of Jumping Jack Flash sound better than those that can be found on any bootleg. The version of Sympathy For The Devil from Frost on Saturday sounds fine and then Mickey Mouse Blues is completely new! Now talking about Jumping Jack Flash,   first there is Version 2, this is the soundtrack of the promo video without make up, the difference is on the intro: Let s go .... Yeah yeah yeah ..., which has a different backing track, as known for ages. It is an entirely different take to the version released as a single, this version was recorded especially for the mimed performance that usually accompanies it. It has not appeared on any official physical or digital release until now, it seems. Then the last track is version 1,  the one that is the soundtrack of the promo version with make up, with the official single backing track. The copyright preservation track has a different vocal, with Jagger saying boo/ buh etc.

 Somebody wondered if these were the tracks originally earmarked for the 50^th  Anniversary release of Beggars Banquet, but unfortunately shelved. Anyway this little compilation is full of interesting bits, how come none of the major labels has overlooked it? Packaging is essential, on the back cover there are tracks listed with the relevant YouTube url, however none of them is any longer available; there is also a Thanks Nicky heart shaped sticker which underlined the great contributions Nicky Hopkins provided the band in this particular times.