Tajik accession resonates with Dixie

A WIPO notification, Phonograms Notification No. 87: Convention for the Protection of Producers of Phonograms Against Unauthorized Duplication of Their Phonograms, has just been published.  This gives the welcome news that the Republic of Tajikistan has decided to accede to this Convention (sometimes called the Geneva Convention) a mere 41-and-a-bit years after it was concluded.

The Convention takes effect for Tajikistan on 26 February 2013 -- a date which has no apparent religious, cultural or political significance in Tajikistan at all. It is however a date with profound significance for the recorded music industry: on 26 February 1917 the Original Dixieland Jass Band recorded "Livery Stable Blues", the first ever jazz single, for the Victor Talking Machine Company in New York.

Tajikistan dances to the beat of the WPPT

Today is an historical day for the 1709 Blog -- it's the first time we have ever had the need to make mention of Tajikistan. Suffice it to say that, through WPPT Notification No. 81 we have been notified of the deposit by the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan, on May 24, 2011, of its instrument of accession to the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty, adopted at Geneva on December 20, 1996 [and grumbled about ever since by various poeple for requiring (i) too much, (ii) too little or (iii) the wrong sort of protection for the works covered by it].

The Treaty will enter into force with respect to the Republic of Tajikistan on August 24, 2011.

Music of Tajikistan here and here