WARNING: it's going to be non-stop Elvis for a while. We've already have the re-release of the single That's All Right to mark its 50th anniversary, but that's nothing compared to the slew of the compilations due to hit the racks.

Elvis already sells steadily on back catalogue, so why this sudden "re-packaged, re-mastered" frenzy? Simple. Elvis's songs will begin going out of copyright on the first of January next year. Which means that anyone, anywhere will be able to release his songs without having to pay royalties to the owners of the master or to Elvis's heirs.

Because of the dates involved with rock 'n' roll history, it will all then start to get very interesting. Along with Elvis, major hits by Little Richard, Johnny Cash, Bo Diddley and Fats Domino will soon come into the public domain. Up a few more years more and the biggest and best musical prize sits there waiting: the entire Beatles songbook.

This freeing up of music will only happen in Europe, where songs go out of copyright 50 years after their release date. The record industry in the U.S wised up to this potentially devastating loss of income a good few years ago and lobbied successfully for copyright to be extended to 95 years after the original recording.

We can confidently predict, though, that the EU will change our copyright laws very, very soon to protect these recordings - and with a minimum of publicity. The music industry won't countenance a situation where some of their biggest earners stop earning for them. Already, the industry has leaned on the EU to pass draconian anti-civil liberties legislation on the issue of music downloading.

Big corporate entities tend to speak the same language and tend to come to mutually beneficial "understandings". The music industry is currently preparing its case for the EU. The labels are using the old argument that they need the copyright extended because they use the revenue to invest in new bands and that's a good thing all round. They're also referring to a "free-for-all" situation when these songs come out of copyright - which is missing the whole point of existing copyright laws.

Music industry bodies have been busy feeding friendly journalists with phrases such as "this legal loophole" in reference to the end of the copyright laws. That's nonsense. There is no "loophole" here. The existing 50-year law (which everyone was quite happy with until they suddenly realised it was due to expire on critical recordings) was put in place to ensure that artists and those concerned with the work got a long time to make money from their work and, after that agreed period elapsed, the recordings would not enter some legally protected black hole so that only the few profited from them.

The copyright laws we have in place within the EU are binding legal terms, not something which can be changed for purely financial reasons. These recordings are due to expire, as all works of art are due to expire. The haggling here is for how long people can profit from them before this so-called "free-for-all" begins.

There would not be this sudden consternation if the only recordings due to come out of copyright were a few Adam Faith albums. It's because it's Elvis, and later The Beatles, that this situation is so pressing.

This law will be changed. The music industry will ensure that it is. The Disney corporation in the US magically persuaded Congress to extend the copyright on their animated version of Elvis - Mickey Mouse.

So relax, Lisa-Marie, I wouldn't give up on those royalty cheques from Europe just yet.