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.