Teenage Suicide

This sound recording of "Teenage Suicide" by Emerald, fixed in 1986, is classified as PROTECTED under the Music Modernization Act (MMA). The MMA, specifically 17 U.S.C. § 1401, brought pre-1972 sound recordings under federal copyright protection. However, recordings fixed on or after February 15, 1972, such as this 1986 recording, were already subject to federal copyright law under the 1976 Copyright Act. Therefore, they fall under the standard federal copyright term that applies to works created after this date. For works made for hire, which is often the case for commercially released sound recordings produced by record labels, the copyright term is 95 years from the year of first publication or 120 years from the year of creation, whichever expires first. For other works, the term is the life of the author plus 70 years. Given its 1986 fixation date, this recording is well within its federal copyright term and is therefore still protected. It is important to note that this analysis pertains solely to the copyright status of the sound recording itself. The underlying musical composition (melody and lyrics) of "Teenage Suicide" may have a separate copyright status, which could be different depending on when the song was written and who its authors are. Our focus here is exclusively on the protection afforded to the specific performance captured in this 1986 recording.