In the 1960’s my husband was a member of a pop group. I was wondering what happens to the royalties, especially since he has now died.
If you haven’t already done so you should register with Phonographic Performance Ltd, or PPL, which collects royalties for a range of recorded music when it is played in public or broadcast on TV, radio and certain digital media services. It also collects royalties internationally. Since 1st November 2013 the law changed so that copyright in sound recordings now lasts for 70 years (previously, it was 50 years). This means that record companies and performers (and in your case their beneficiaries) can continue to earn income from these recordings during the extra 20 years of copyright. This applies to recordings released from 1963 onwards.